Ghana Gets US$ 4.2bn From Mining & quarrying As Galamsey Booms.

Mining and quarrying sectors of the economy contributed $4.2billion to Ghana’s economy in 2018, a report by the Oxford Business Group (OBG), a global research and advisory firm.

The Report dubbed ‘Ghana 2020’ charts the role that the country’s three Eurobond offerings played as part of a broader, ongoing drive to stabilise the cedi and boost foreign exchange reserves.

According to the OBG, the figures from mining and quarrying was up 13.3% year-on-year, buoyed by higher commodity prices, growing global demand and support from the government.

It is unclear how the pervasive illegal mining operations of officials of the government played in the computation of this data.

Data from the Ghana Chamber of mines indicate that small scale miners in Ghana produced up to 2 million ounces of gold in 2018, despite the fact that the Akufo Addo administration had placed a ban on small scale mining activities for both 2017 and 2018.

This amount of gold accrued over US$ 2.6 billion which is reported to have mostly gone into the pockets of government appointees and executives of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Whatsup News has gathered.

The latest explosive secret recording capturing Professor Frimpong Boateng, the Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) has reinforced this suspicion because apparently, while the IMCIM was chasing off illegal and small scale miners, it was allocating concessions to cronies of the ruling party.

Meanwhile, the OBG also tracks the progress made in reducing the deficit, which fell to 4.2% of GDP in 2019, on the back of measures brought in to improve fiscal discipline and restore macroeconomic stability.

According to OBG, the extractive industries play a crucial role in Ghana’s economy, with gold and crude oil its top exports in value.