Professor
of Engineering at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) - Tarkwa, William
Buah has acknowledgeD the country’s mineral industry as the foremost source of
revenue generation, with prestigious status on contributing significantly to
national growth.
He said statistics
from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) show that the minerals and mining sector
is the major source of direct domestic revenue mobilised by the Authority in
2017, with overall total mining fiscal receipt mobilised by GRA increasing by
31 percent year on year - from GH¢1.65billion in 2016 to GH¢2.16billion in
2017.
Delivering
the second public lecture in Accra to mark the 90th anniversary
celebration of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, under the theme ‘A Responsible and Sustainable Mining Industry, a Partner for National
Development’, Prof. Buah contended that the mining industry’s contribution
to national development can be directly linked to national revenue generation,
corporate social investment programmes of the industry, and sustainable
alternative livelihood programmes.
He added
that the mining industry is committed to responsible and sustainable mining
practices, and therefore is positioned to continuously support national
development.
“The
industry’s fiscal contributions to Direct Domestic Tax Revenue from 2011 to
2017 have been consistent.”
He emphasised
that corporate income tax receipts increased from GH¢696.9million in 2016 to
GH¢969.6million in 2017, while mineral royalty revenue grew from
GH¢550.7million to GH¢702.4million over the same period. These represent an
increment of 39 percent and 28 percent respectively.
Employee
income tax (pay-as-you-earn), he indicated, also increased by 22 percent to
GHȻ487.9million in 2017 as compared to GHȻ399.9million in 2016.
Prof Buah stated
that gold exports increased from 3.84 million ounces in 2016 to 4.61 million
ounces in 2017, which he attributed to the upturn in output of large-scale
producers, increase in volume of gold exported by Licenced Gold Exporting
Companies; and exports of manganese increased from 2 million tonnes in 2016 to
3 million tonnes in 2017.
Meanwhile,
bauxite also expanded from 1.14 million tonnes to 1.47 million tonnes over the
same period, he stated.
“It has
also emerged that the Minerals and Mining sector is the leading source of
foreign exchange for the country from the export of commodities. The share of
mineral receipts in total merchandise export for 2017 was 43 percent, while
proceeds from the country’s major export commodities - cocoa and oil -
accounted for 19 percent and approximately 23 percent respectively of merchandise
export revenue in 2017.
“In
essence, receipts from the export of gold were slightly higher than the sum of
receipts from cocoa and oil put together in 2017.”
The main
objectives of the industry’s Corporate Social Investment (CSI) programmes, Prof
Buah said, are to support the training and development of local people in
engineering, construction, electrical and other technical fields; and to
provide support for research and charitable projects that are beneficial to the
host communities and entire nation.
Chief
Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Sulemanu Koney, underscored the
need to ring-fence revenues accruing to the state from the exploitation of minerals
and mining resources.
This, he
said, has come to the fore following the people’s inability to properly track
contributions of the sector to the country’s national economy.
He
indicated that though the mining sector has significantly contributed to the
country’s development over the years, its contribution cannot be properly
traced because the revenues mostly end up in the consolidated fund.
He is of
the view that ring-fencing mineral revenues is the best way to assess the
mining sector’s contribution to the economy, whereby the benefits which have
been accruing to the state and mining communities can be properly evaluated.
Making a
strong case for measures to be put in place to enhance transparency and
accountability of the country’s natural resources-administration/ exploitation,
a Member of Parliament for the Tarkwa-Nsuaem constituency, George Mireku Duker,
said that such a move will enable the state to prove the value of mining to the
people.
Year
|
Expenditure on
Corporate Social Investments (US$)
|
2010
|
17,590,469
|
2011
|
43,732,833
|
2012
|
26,676,354
|
2013
|
12,124,053
|
2014
|
20,769,049
|
2015
|
17,094,776
|
2016
|
12,203,889
|
2017
|
19,888,164
|
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