Ghana's gold earnings dip 10 pct in 2014

Ghana's earning in gold and mineral exports slumped by 10 percent to record a 4.5 billion U.S. dollars relative to the 5 billion dollars earned in 2013, provisional figures have revealed.

This is from the total export of 3.466 million ounces of gold in addition to export of manganese, bauxite and diamond, Ben Aryee, Technical Advisor to Minister for Lands and Natural Resources (Mines) told Xinhua Monday.

According to him, although gold production for the year under review amounted to 4.1 million ounces, provisional data from Bank of Ghana covers only 3.466 million ounces in export, adding that this could increase when data was finalized.

Manganese export amounted to 82.9 million dollars, while Bauxite raked in 36.3 million dollars with Diamond earning 9.1 million dollars.

Gold accounts for 90 percent of total mineral output in Ghana and the slump in gold prices on the world stage affects total mineral earnings for the country which is the second largest producer of gold in Africa, after South Africa.

Ghana became the eighth biggest gold producer in 2013 with 4. 398 million ounces of gold, on which it earned 5 billion dollars. The 2014 production figure of 4.1 million ounces therefore represents a 6.77 percent decrease in total gold output relative to the 2013 figure.

"The drop in revenue was due to the fall in gold prices on the world stage which caused mining firms to restructure their operations and even lay off some workers," Aryee explained.

Gold production in the West African country rose to a record 4. 3 million ounces in 2012 relative to 3.6 million ounces the previous year on the record high prices in 2011.

The end of the boom cycle in commodity prices is causing serious hiccups in the growth of most resource-rich countries, including Ghana, where estimates in the country's annual budget for 2015 had to be reviewed downwards due to the fall in crude prices. Endi