Mr Sulemanu Koney, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana Chamber of Mines has urged the government to pass the Mineral Revenue Management Act for the mining sector to strive.
He said aside providing clarity on how funds would be utilized, such a law would promote good governance and prudent management of revenue in the mining industry.
Addressing Mine workers and the general public at this year’s zone one Inter-mines first aid and safety competition held at Tarkwa Na Aboso in the Western Region, Mr Koney said in 2018, the mining sector accounted for about 39 percent of gross foreign exchange receipts making it the country's largest source of foreigner earner.
He said "in nominal terms the realised mineral revenue reported on district member state of the chamber was $3.8 billion".
The CEO noted that about 75 percent was returned into the country, which was nearly three-fold of the statutory maximum repatriation requirement of the Minerals and Mining Act 704.
"Such inflows do not only help the nation to finance its import obligations, but also facilitate the achievement of the monetary policy goals of the central bank essentials to attain stability and foster economic growth, he explained.
On physical contribution by the mining sector, Mr Koney disclosed that it increased from $2.16 billion in 2017 to $2.36 billion in 2018 representing a growth of 9.3 percent.
These funds, he said, were largely channeled into the national budget to finance developmental programmes.
"The physical contribution from the mining sector is significant as you can see however most of us are unaware of specific programmes funded with mineral revenue" Mr Koney pointed out.
He urged government to ensure that its oversight role and operations of the Mineral Development Fund secretariat was effective and beneficial to mining communities.
Mr Koney said there was, therefore the need for the government to swiftly set up the local development committees as well as crafting of Mines Community Development Schemes as envisaged under the Mineral Development Fund Act.
He reminded Ghanaians that the chamber's contribution to national development and the economic growth went beyond the position of revenue generation and rather looked at broad base value created by the industry.
Source: GNA
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