Ghana is endowed with substantial mineral resources and has a well-established mining sector, which has grown considerably in recent years to represent an important pillar of the Ghanaian economy.
The general slowdown in the mining industry however resulted in medium and micro impacts in terms of loss of employment and other local socio-economic contributions, as operating mines and exploration companies restructured to cut cost in the face of falling gold price. The mining sector contributed GH¢1,285 million to Government revenue in 2015 as against GH¢1,193 million in year 2014. This represented an increase of 7.79% over the previous year’s figure. Pay As You Earn (PAYE) from the mining sector contributed GHC 478.1 million in 2015 as against GHC 291.73 million in 2014 representing a 63.88% increase. In 2015, a total of GHC 485.63 million was paid as mineral royalties. This represents a 3.24% increase over the 2014 value of GHC 470.37 million. It is however worthy to know that, cooperate income tax paid by mining companies decreased by (25.28%) from GHC 429.53 million in 2014 to GHC 320.94 million in 2015.
In 2015, mining sector contributed GHC 1,285 million (14.14%) of a total Domestic Revenue Collection of GHC 9,091 million. It is worthy to note that, though revenue generated from the mining sector has been on the steady assent, the contribution of mining sector to total domestic tax collection has been declining. Figure 4.4 illustrates the trend of contribution of mining sector to total Domestic Tax collection over past ten (10) years.
Earnings from minerals exported during the year 2015 amounted to US$ 3,322.61 million compared to US$ 4,516.29 million earned in year 2014. This shows a decrease of 26.43%. The unfavorable price of gold, Ghana’s flagship mineral, on the international commodity market which resulted in a decline in gold production accounted for the decrease in revenue. Of the total earnings from mineral exports in 2015 (US$ 3,322.61), gold accounted for US$ 3,212.59 million (96.68%), bauxite brought in US$ 41.06 million (1.24%), whilst diamonds contributed US$ 4.22 million (0.31%) and Manganese racked up US$ 64.74 million (1.95%)
In year 2015, data from the Bank of Ghana indicate that total merchandise export earnings were US$10,356.70 million compared to US$ 12,983.16 million in year 2014. The contribution of minerals to the earnings for the year was 32.0% of the total merchandise exports.