Ghana, Africa’s second-largest gold producer, ordered large mining companies to sell 20 percent of the metal they refine to the nation’s central bank, as the government embarks on a plan to barter bullion for fuel.
The directive is to go into effect on Jan. 1 next year, Ghanaian Minister for Lands and Natural Resources Samuel Jinapor wrote in a notice posted on Ghanian Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia’s Facebook. The government also ordered small-scale miners to sell their gold to the state-owned Precious Minerals Marketing Co.
Bawumia on Thursday said the government was planning to use bullion to buy fuel.
From bartering gold to a plan to ask international bondholders to accept losses on the principal, Ghana’s government is scrambling to find ways to stem a slide in the cedi and make way for a bailout by the IMF. The West African nation has been buying gold from mining companies since last year. The latest move ramps up the purchases.
Rising demand for imports has caused the cedi to plunge 57 percent this year, making it the world’s worst-performing currency.
Buying from small-scale miners “alone is enough to help us meet our need for US$400 million for petroleum imports per month,” said Kabiru Mahama, an economic adviser to Bawumia.
The Bank of Ghana and the government’s marketing arm are to buy the gold from companies including Newmont Corp, AngloGold Ashanti Ltd, Gold Fields Ltd in “cedis at spot price with no discounts,” the notice said.
“We’ve not yet received the formal directive, but look forward to studying it and engaging with the government once we do,” Stewart Bailey, a spokesman for AngloGold wrote in an e-mail.
Gold Fields said it would sell 15,000 ounces of the metal to the central bank this year and is in discussions with authorities for next year.
Gold for December delivery rose US$8.40 to US$1,754 per ounce, declining 0.023 percent from a week earlier.
Silver for December delivery rose US$0.06 to US$21.43 per ounce, rising 2.05 percent on the week, while December copper rose US$0.01 to US$3.63 per pound, remaining the same from last week.
Additional reporting by AP
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