Ghana Risks Losing Over 5,000 workers

The government and the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), which is at the heart of the government’s Gold for Oil policy are set to see over $100 million worth of gold to the parallel market (smugglers) due to what appears to be a lack of funds stemming from the fact that Bank of Ghana's Inability to give money to the PMMC to buy the gold from the miners. 

It is estimated that at least 2000 kilos of gold are produced for market by Artisanal and Small Scale Miners with its current monetary value at approximately $120 million.

Since the policy was rolled out in January this year, it barred licenced gold exporters from doing their legitimate business of buying and exporting gold. This, government said it needed the gold to enable the Gold for Oil initiative to survive. However, further checks from deep-throat sources have revealed that in the last weeks, PMMC has not been able to purchase even an ounce of gold and therefore put the production of some 2000 kilos of gold into the hands of the parallel market (smugglers). Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) used to buy an average of two (2) tons or two thousand (2,000) kg of gold monthly but the situation is no more so in the market from the beginning of April 2023 up to date. Further checks from the Kumasi and Tarkwa Purchase Centers and its environs confirmed the same about the state agency’s inability to buy gold in the last three weeks and counting. A few industry players who shared their opinion on the matter stated that "looking at the current situation, the Licensed Gold Exporters (LGE) whose businesses were negatively impacted by the Gold-For-Oil policy. They said, a reverse of the initiative will enable about forty (40) Licensed gold exporting companies to be able to re-engage the over five thousand (5,000) employees who were laid off since the inception of the policy and it will also weed out smugglers who are having a field day.