Report Reveals Ghana Lost $11 Billion to Gold Smuggling Tied to UAE

Ghana, Africa’s leading gold producer, has reportedly lost over $11 billion in revenue over a five-year period due to widespread smuggling from its artisanal mining sector, according to a new report by Swiss-based NGO Swissaid. The report reveals a massive discrepancy between Ghana’s official gold export figures and import data from major trading partners, particularly the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Between 2013 and 2018, Swissaid found a gold trade gap of 229 metric tons—equivalent to approximately $11.4 billion—suggesting that large volumes of gold were exported from Ghana without being formally declared. Much of this gold, the report claims, ends up in Dubai, often carried in by hand through informal and unregulated channels.

“This is likely just scratching the surface,” said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel programme at Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Foundation. He emphasized that gold transported on flights and not declared in Dubai contributes significantly to the opacity of the trade. “Hand-carried gold does not have to be declared in Dubai, and this makes it an attractive destination for informal trade,” Laessing noted.

Swissaid’s investigation highlighted how smuggling networks have developed complex routes to bypass Ghanaian regulations. Much of the gold is reportedly first moved into neighboring Togo before being re-exported to the UAE. In other cases, bullion travels through Burkina Faso and Mali, exploiting the region’s porous borders and weak enforcement capacity.

A senior official at Ghana’s Minerals Commission described the report’s findings as “a notorious fact,” acknowledging the challenge the country faces in regulating its vast artisanal gold sector.

The issue is further compounded by past policy missteps. In 2019, Ghana introduced a 3% withholding tax on artisanal gold exports in an attempt to boost formal revenues. However, the tax had an unintended effect—formal gold declarations plummeted while smuggling surged. In 2022, the government responded by halving the tax to 1.5%, which led to a modest rebound in official exports. The tax was ultimately scrapped entirely in March 2024, with the finance minister crediting this move for a recent uptick in artisanal export figures.

Despite these adjustments, Swissaid’s data shows that a significant portion of artisanal production remains undeclared. In 2023 alone, an estimated 34 metric tons of gold went unreported—roughly equal to Ghana’s entire artisanal output for that year. This indicates that the scale of informal extraction and export continues to undermine state revenues and regulatory control.

Ghana’s broader experience reflects a troubling trend across the continent. Many African nations consistently report lower gold exports than what countries like the UAE record as imports. Although Dubai has pledged reforms to tighten oversight of gold imports and improve transparency in the trade, progress has been limited.

Ghana earned roughly $11.6 billion from gold exports in 2023, making the sector a cornerstone of the national economy. The government has introduced new measures aimed at formalizing artisanal mining and improving traceability, yet enforcement and systemic reform remain sluggish.

Informal mining remains a vital source of income for millions—according to a May United Nations report, over 10 million people in sub-Saharan Africa depend on artisanal mining. However, experts warn that this sector is increasingly being co-opted by organized crime and armed groups, turning it into a major conduit for illicit financial flows and regional instability.

Bright Simons, a policy analyst at the Imani Center for Policy and Education in Accra, welcomed recent reform efforts by the current administration but warned that the pace has been too slow to address longstanding governance challenges. “The new government appears more committed to tackling these issues than the previous one, but action on the ground has not matched the urgency the situation demands,” Simons said.

As Ghana continues to battle the economic and security threats posed by gold smuggling, observers stress that meaningful reforms must be coupled with regional cooperation and international accountability—especially from key gold-trading hubs like Dubai.