Ghana lost $1.2B to gold smuggling in 2022

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ghana lost about $1.2 billion in revenue due to gold smuggling in 2022, the country's finance minister said on Tuesday.

After meeting with officials from the UK-Ghana Gold Program at the Finance Ministry in the capital Accra, Cassiel Ato Forson said on X that in 2022 nearly 60 tons of gold was illegally smuggled out of Ghana.

This smuggling deprived the West African country of significant foreign exchange and government revenue, he underlined.

Forson said: "Imagine the impact if that wealth had stayed in our economy!”

Emphasizing that gold smuggling has damaged the country's economy, he announced new steps to be taken to prevent gold smuggling and ensure that Ghana fully benefits from its gold resources.

In this context, Forson announced that a new regulatory body called the Ghana Gold Board will be established.

Historically referred to as the “Bay of Gold,” Ghana is among Africa’s top gold-producing countries.