The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Sulemanu Konney has said that they expect gold price to continue going up as prices pick up.
Konney told Accra-based Citi FM that they expect the price to go higher than it is going now. He was of the view that higher prices should make mining companies competitive.
“I think gold has been ticking up quite a bit but it is not up to the 2016/2017 levels yet. But I think it has been holding firm, generally, we know it is driven largely by geopolitics and of course economics as well and therefore when stocks tend to be doing pretty well, generally would have an adverse impact on the price of gold particularly the major mineral that is mined in the country.”
“Generally, our expectation is that it should actually be much better than it is going now. Of course once it goes up, practically everybody in the value chain in the mining industry is excited as there will be a lot more taxes, the company will be able to expand as this happens when an economy is especially driven by the price of gold,” he added.
The price of gold has not seen any significant increases as projected by mining firms since 2016. The price drop has affected the profit margin of the mining industry which has also impacted their contribution in terms of taxes.
Presently, an ounce of the commodity is estimated at 1, 286 dollars.
Meanwhile, Ghana recorded revenue of GHC2.16 billion in 2017 from the mining sector.
According to data and research from the Ghana Chamber of Mines and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the total mining fiscal receipts mobilised by the GRA increased by 31 percent, from GHC1.65 billion in 2016.
In the first half of 2018, the mining sector contributed a total of GH₵1.03 billion to government revenue. This is an increase of 17.11% as compared to the 2017 first half value of GH₵877 million.
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