Ghana has become the largest gold producer in Africa, toppling South Africa in a recent data released by the World Bank.

The data copied to the Ghana News Agency said Ghana exported 158 tonnes of gold in 2018, about 15% increase over the previous year.

Ghana has thus dethroned South Africa, which produced 139.3 tonnes and returned to the high volumes of the 1980s.

It said mining firms operating in the country include Newmont Mining Corporation, Gold Fields, Anglogold Ashanti and Asanko Gold.

It noted rural communities in four regions of Ghana currently affected by the environmental damage and pollution associated with destructive artisanal mining and logging practices are to benefit from a scale-up of the Ghana Forest Investment Program.

The World Bank approved additional financing of $19.39 million to the programme last week.

The programme is already implementing activities focusing on agricultural drivers of deforestation by working with cocoa farmers and communities to rehabilitate and protect forest reserves.

The additional financing operation aims at complementing these activities by piloting approaches to and benefits of reclamation of mining sites, which will reduce erosion currently polluting public watercourses and engage the private sector in plantation development to reduce pressure on natural forests.

China tops the global pact followed by Australia, Russia and the United States of America.