“Ghana already occupies a high-tax position”, “proposed royalty regime to increase sovereign risk perceptions” – Chamber of Mines

The Ghana Chamber of Mines is warning against the proposed royalty regime, saying it would position Ghana as a fiscal outlier, increasing sovereign risk perceptions and incentivising capital reallocation to jurisdictions, such as Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, where fiscal terms are perceived to be more stable and balanced.

In a position paper on the ‘Proposed Sliding-Scale Royalty Regime for the Gold Mining Sector’, the Chamber said international benchmarking indicates that Ghana already occupies a high-tax position relative to peer gold-producing jurisdictions.

“When combined with a 35% corporate income tax rate and the State’s 10% free-carried interest, the proposed royalty regime would position Ghana as a fiscal outlier”, it disclosed.

It continued that Ghana’s gold mining sector is currently operating in a context of structurally rising unit costs, maturing and increasingly complex ore bodies, and an already elevated cumulative fiscal burden.

“Royalties and the 3% Growth and Sustainability Levy (GSL) are levied on gross revenue, meaning they apply before cost recovery and capital reinvestment. Under the existing framework, these instruments result in an effective front-end government take of approximately 10% of gross mineral revenue”, it explained.

 Under the proposed sliding-scale regime, the Chamber said this would rise to as much as 17%, materially compressing cash flow and altering project economics.

The Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, Isaac Tandoh, recently said that Ghana was considering scrapping long-term mining stability agreements while doubling royalties under sweeping new mining reforms.

According to him, the changes are part of a broad overhaul aimed at balancing investor confidence with the government’s push to reap greater rewards from mining.

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