Acting CEO calls for mineral revenue management law

Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Mr. Sulemanu Koney, has called for the promulgation of a mineral revenue management law to ensure transparency and accountability in the management of the country’s mineral revenue inflows.

He said such legislation should be akin to the Petroleum Development Act 815 and could not wait, noting that, its absence was a huge disadvantage negating the significant gains being made by the mining sector.

It is the way to go to provide the templates for the prudent appropriation of the enormous fortunes accruing from the mining and minerals sector – a potential fiscal source to turn the economy around.

He said the law would also help Ghana to reposition itself to maintain its pre-eminent position in the face of stiff competition from its neighbours - La Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal and Burkina Faso, where drastic reforms in their mineral codes had led to positive transformation.

The mining sector, he noted, was the highest contributor in fiscal and direct revenues to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) last year, the highest corporate tax payer and a leading contributor of gross export revenue, reinforcing its position as the highest source of foreign exchange.

Mr Koney backed the assertion with figures – it paid GH¢1.1 billion, representing 18.7 of GRA’s total direct taxes, GH¢518 million in corporate tax, translating into 19.5 per cent, despite the decline in gold price and the high cost of production.

The Chamber members returned US$ 3.1 billion, representing 68 per cent of their mineral revenue, through the Bank of Ghana (BOG) to the commercial banks in 2013, whiles Foreign Direct Investment Inflows also totaled US$1.154 billion.

The CEO, who was speaking on a “Survey of Ghana’s Mineral Sector” at a media briefing in Kumasi said this has a significant bearing on the international reserve position of the BOG and the stability of the entire monetary system, critical for economic growth and development.