The Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) is reviewing its strategy to make available, gold and diamond needed by jewelers in the country.
This also forms part of efforts to sustain the jewelry industry.
The move follows complaints by players in the industry over their difficulty in accessing raw materials needed for their operations.
In an interview with Citi Business News, the Managing Director of the Precious Minerals Marketing Company, Kwadjo Opare Hammond, disclosed that government will soon roll out a policy that will entitle jewelers in the country to 30 percent refined gold in the country.
“I don’t want to give any timelines but there is going to be a major policy announcement that may be made by the President and that will be made very clear to Ghanaians. So let’s hold our fire for a while but I want to assure you that once the sector minister made mention of this intended policy, it will come into force soon. It is seriously being considered by the current government as part of our value addition policy that thirty percent of the gold that is manufactured in this country is going to be set aside for use by the local jewelers as well as for export,” he explained.
Mr. Opare Hammond made these comments to Citi Business News at the sidelines of a stakeholder meeting between the PMMC and operators in the jewelry industry.
He also stated that the PMMC is doing all it can to strengthen assaying processes for effective collection of all statutory revenue due the state.
“A lot of people are taking gold out of this country without it passing through the right channels that is through the assay center that PMMC has set up at the airport. Now to be able to do this, we are coming out with one major measure in which we are going to have a single channel through which every gold that is leaving this country will pass through.”
On his part, the National President of the Federation of Ghana Jewelers and Gold Smiths, Shallovern Srodah called for a review of the laws governing the jewelry industry in Ghana.
“The law for the jewellery industry needs to be made clear. We can even argue that we are trading under the Trade and Industry Ministry but what does that ministry say about the jewellery industry, there is nothing in their books on the law about the jewellery industry so the laws need to be made clear”.
The event was on the theme; forging a partnership for our mutual benefit and national development.
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Source: Citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
