Tanzania’s gold exports rose 23 per cent in the year to July, its central bank said on Thursday.
The (central) Bank of Tanzania said in Dar es Salaam the value of gold exported (in the year ending July 31) … grew at an annual rate of 23.3 per cent to $1.783 billion from $1.45 billion the previous year.
The central bank report said the rate was due to an increase in export volume.
Gold accounts for more than 40 per cent of the East African nation’s non-traditional exports.
According to the data, Tanzania exported gold worth $1.549 billion in the 2018 calendar year, up slightly from $1.541 billion a year earlier.
Tanzania, which is Africa’s fourth-biggest gold producer after South Africa, Ghana and Mali hopes to see a rebound in its mining sector after a tax crackdown and overhaul of its mining code in 2017 spooked foreign investors.
Tanzanian President John Magufuli, who took office in late 2015, is pushing for more revenue from the mining sector, which is a relatively small contributor to national output.
In 2017, the government passed laws which the industry complained would be costly and onerous.
Among other things, the laws hike taxes on mineral exports, mandate a higher government stake in some mining operations and force the construction of local smelters, a move some companies said was uneconomic.
Magufuli also ordered the central bank in January to start buying the country’s gold to curb smuggling and build reserves to stabilise the local currency.
Tanzania has also been locked in a prolonged conflict with London-listed Acacia Mining after authorities banned exports of gold and copper concentrates and accused the miner of tax evasion, which it denies.
A buyout proposal for Acacia from majority shareholder Barrick Gold Corp is expected to reset strained relations with the government, according to analysts.
