The Ghana Chamber of Mines CEO, Ken Ashigbey, is calling for the urgent development of a Minerals Revenue Management Act to protect the country from future commodity price shocks and secure medium-term fiscal stability.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Thursday, he said Ghana must move beyond short-term thinking and put in place clear rules that guarantee savings from mineral windfalls when prices are high.
“You see, eating on a constant and continual basis is better than eating one large meal once,” he said.
According to him, current gains from strong gold prices should not drive permanent policy decisions, warning that commodity booms are temporary and largely outside the country’s control.
“This phenomenon is a short-term phenomenon. You don’t take decisions that are long-term in nature just based on the phenomenon,” he stated.
Mr Ashigbey said that while Ghana’s macroeconomic indicators are improving, stability remains fragile because the economy is heavily dependent on global commodity prices.
“Currently, yes, the macros are very good. The cedi-to-dollar exchange rate is very good. Inflation is trending very well. Interest rate is also trending very well,” he noted.
“But all of that is predicated on commodity prices. And we don’t have control over it.”
He warned that without deliberate savings and investment rules, Ghana risks repeating past cycles of boom-and-bust spending.
“We need to get to the point where we have a Minerals Revenue Management Act that then guarantees that we have something in our Stabilisation Fund,” he stressed.
The proposed law, he explained, should ensure that a portion of mining revenue is set aside during periods when prices fall, while also directing some of the gains into productive long-term investments.
“We need to be thinking about the medium term,” he said, adding that money saved during good times would allow the country to recover when conditions worsen.
“When things are not good, you’re able to recover.”
Mr Ashigbey said the Chamber supports fair taxation and has engaged both the Lands Ministry and the Finance Ministry on reforms to mineral royalties.
“We are all open to fair taxation. That is something that we are not arguing about,” he said.
He disclosed that the Chamber proposed a revised sliding royalty structure, arguing that it should move both up and down with gold prices to ensure fairness and sustainability.
“Our counteroffer was to slide between four and eight per cent,” he explained, instead of a structure that only increases during price surges.
Under the Chamber’s proposal, royalties would decline as prices fall, allowing mining operations to remain viable while preserving jobs and output.
“It’s not that you are only sliding up. You’re sliding both up and down,” he said.
He argued that such a balance would keep operations running and allow companies to expand production during periods of strong prices.
“If you are able to keep the price up and still keep the royalties up, then what you get on a sustainable basis would be better,” he explained.
Mr Ashigbey also revealed that the Chamber proposed an additional 1% levy on net profit to fund development projects in mining communities.
“The people in these mining communities should be able to point to the fact that when the prices of gold hit the roof, we were able to do this project,” he said.
Beyond large-scale mining, he called for stronger integration of the small-scale sector into national revenue mobilisation.
He noted that small-scale mining now accounts for more than half of output from large-scale mines and should also contribute when pricing conditions allow.
“When the percentages are right, they would also be able to put a bit into the kitty,” he said.
According to him, a broader contribution base would allow government to raise more revenue without overburdening any single segment of the industry.
But he maintained that revenue mobilisation must go hand in hand with discipline in the use of windfalls.
“As things are better now, what are we doing with the wins that we’re getting?” he asked.
He welcomed government’s indication that mineral revenues would support major infrastructure under the Big Push agenda, but insisted that saving must remain central.
“We need to make sure that you’re putting money away into places that when things go hard, you’re able to recover,” he said.
Mr Ashigbey said mineral windfalls should also be channelled into forward-looking sectors such as commercial agriculture to support long-term economic transformation.
“How are we moving the gains that are coming into things that are a lot more forward-looking?” he questioned.
He stressed that the Chamber is not opposed to citizens benefiting from the current boom, but cautioned against exhausting the gains too quickly.
“We’re not saying that, as a people, we should not benefit out of it,” he said. “But what we are saying is that let’s live and let live so that everybody gets.”
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