CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Sulemanu Koney, has shared vital insights on the mining sector’s crucial role in stabilizing the local currency during an interview with Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, September 19.
He emphasized that without the mining industry’s contributions, the Ghanaian cedi could be in dire straits, potentially falling to ¢25 against the dollar.
Addressing claims that the sector hasn’t significantly impacted the local currency, Koney asserted, “Trust me, if you didn’t have the mining industry, we would probably be heading to around ¢25 to $1.”
Koney acknowledged existing misconceptions regarding the industry’s economic contribution but reinforced that the evidence speaks for itself.
A substantial share of the country’s foreign exchange earnings is derived from mining, and he noted that collaborative efforts between the Bank of Ghana and mining companies such as selling portions of their gold reserves have been pivotal in supporting the currency.
“Over the last few years, we’ve had a collaboration with the Bank of Ghana where part of our gold is sold to them as part of their reserves. This has been voluntary, not compulsory, but we still do it,” Mr Koney explained.
In response to suggestions that Ghana’s mining sector should enhance its gold reserves like some non-mining countries, Koney highlighted the fundamental differences between them “Countries that don’t mine gold often have huge reserves, but that’s because they play in a different space.
“Mining companies are not in that business. We bring the foreign exchange into the country to run our operations.”
He further elaborated on the sector’s economic contributions, noting that mining companies purchase a range of local inputs such as labor and energy paid for in cedis.