Business News of Tuesday, 12 December 2017
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2017-12-12
Prof. Alex Dodoo, Director-General of Ghana Standards Authority
Only about 20% of the proceeds of gold exported between 2010 and 2015 came back to the country, the Director-General of Ghana Standards Authority has lamented.
“Between 2010 and 2015 only, a little less than $4billion worth of gold was repatriated to Ghana out of the about $26billion worth of raw gold that was exported,” Prof. Alex Dodoo stated on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Tuesday.
The Ghana cedi was affected negatively by the export of raw gold due to the meagre amount repatriated, he argues.
The Director-General stated that in an attempt to curb these effects, the Standards Authority took the step to refine the gold in Ghana before exporting it.
“When I took office and realized that we have a refinery in Ghana, I said we need to work with them to meet the international standards and now Ghana and South Africa are the only countries in Africa with large-scale gold refineries”, he stated.
He added that, in refining the raw gold, the state gets a sizable amount of other minerals such as silver and platinum which would otherwise have been lost.
“Now, Ghana gains seven grams of silver from every one-hundred grams of gold being refined. We used to lose the revenue from the silver, platinum and other minerals refined from the gold to those we export the raw gold to,” he said.
“The country has since stopped exporting unrefined gold since the refinery was upgraded”, he added.
“We have gone to do an inspection and to certify their products and also done proficiency testing so what we need now is to make sure that the money, in turn, comes to stabilize our cedi,” he noted.
Prof. Dodoo reiterated the need to add value to the country’s natural resources before exporting them since it fetches more revenue.
