Gold smuggling drains over $11 billion from Ghana’s economy

Ghana has lost over USD11 billion to gold smuggling in the last five years, with most of the precious metal believed to be illegally channeled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a new report by international nonprofit Swissaid has revealed.

According to the report, released, a staggering 229 metric tons of gold exported from Ghana between 2016 and 2022 went unaccounted for in official trade records, creating a trade gap worth USD11.4 billion. The report indicates that much of this gold was smuggled through Togo and other neighboring countries before being flown to Dubai, often undeclared.

While Ghana’s Minerals Commission acknowledged the findings as “a notorious fact.” The report identifies a failed fiscal policy as a catalyst for the surge in smuggling. In 2019, the Ghanaian government introduced a 3 percent withholding tax on artisanal gold exports in an effort to regulate the sector. However, the move had the opposite effect, formal declarations of gold exports plummeted, while illegal exports soared.

Following pressure from stakeholders, the government reduced the tax to 1.5 percent in 2022, leading to a partial recovery in declared artisanal gold exports. In March 2025, the Ministry of Finance officially scrapped the tax entirely, citing improved compliance and a surge in formal gold exports.

Despite the reforms, Swissaid estimates that 34 tons of gold, roughly equal to the country’s entire reported artisanal production, went undeclared in 2023 alone.

Ghana’s struggle mirrors a broader continent-wide challenge, where African gold-producing countries consistently underreport exports compared to import volumes declared by Gulf States, especially the UAE. While Dubai has introduced limited reforms to curb illicit gold trade, analysts say the results have been underwhelming.

The gold sector’s vulnerability has become a global concern, particularly as informal mining increasingly finances organized crime and conflict in sub-Saharan Africa, where over 10 million people rely on small-scale mining for survival, according to a UN report published in May 2025.

Though recent reforms signal a willingness to improve oversight, critics argue progress has been too slow. Bright Simons, Vice President of the IMANI Center for Policy and Education, noted that governance challenges in the sector have festered for years under successive administrations.

“While the new government has shown some willingness to fix governance issues that have bedeviled the gold sector, its pace has been quite slow,” Mr. Simons stated.

Last year, Ghana earned USD11.6 billion from gold exports, reinforcing the sector’s importance to the economy. The government has since introduced measures to centralize gold trade, working with the Bank of Ghana and licensed gold buying agents to reduce illicit activity and capture more revenue.