President John Dramani Mahama has announced a bold new policy direction aimed at ending the export of Ghana’s mineral ores in their raw form by 2030, positioning local processing at the heart of his government’s industrial and job‑creation agenda.
Speaking at the Accra Reset Addis Reckoning event in Addis Ababa on Friday, February 13, President Mahama emphasized the need for Ghana to stop exporting unprocessed natural resources and instead build the capacity to refine and add value domestically.
He noted that the same strategy is being applied to the cocoa sector, which he acknowledged is currently facing significant challenges—issues that prompted an emergency meeting in Ghana before his departure for Addis Ababa.
President Mahama revealed that his government has decided to end reliance on foreign financing arrangements for cocoa purchases and will shift to domestic funding through bonds. According to him, this new approach will ensure that local processors have access to sufficient cocoa beans to expand production, create jobs, and strengthen Ghana’s value‑addition ecosystem.
“We have the capacity to process 400,000 tonnes of beans, but because those beans are collateralised, we cannot allocate them to local processors, so we have to ship all the beans outside. Since we produce the beans, we can provide the local processors with 400,000 tonnes to add value.
“I say in 2030 there will be no mineral ore leaving Ghana. We are not going to ship manganese ore, bauxite, iron ore out of Ghana raw. You must process all that locally. That is the only way we can provide opportunities for our people,” he said.
— Citi Newsroom
