Ghana Losing Billions to Gold Smuggling, Most Illicit Bullion Bound for Dubai – Swissaid Report

A new report by Swissaid reveals that Ghana is losing billions of dollars each year due to widespread smuggling from its thriving small-scale gold mining sector, with a large share of the smuggled gold ending up in Dubai.

Released on June 11, 2025, the report uncovered a staggering discrepancy of 229 metric tons—valued at $11.4 billion—between Ghana’s reported gold exports and what its trading partners recorded over the past five years.

Much of the unreported gold is believed to be entering Dubai discreetly through undeclared hand luggage and air cargo.

According to the head of the Sahel Programme at Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Foundation, who researches artisanal mining and regional instability, “This represents only a fraction of the problem. In Dubai, travelers are not required to declare hand-carried gold, making it easy for informal shipments to arrive by air.”

The report further revealed that some of the smuggled gold passes through neighboring countries like Togo, Burkina Faso, and Mali, exploiting weak border controls before reaching the UAE.

A senior official at Ghana’s Minerals Commission confirmed the problem, calling it a “well-known issue.”

Despite growing concerns about lost state revenue, Ghana’s Finance Ministry declined to comment.

The report also examined the impact of a 3 percent withholding tax introduced in 2019 to regulate artisanal gold exports. Instead of encouraging formalization, the tax led to a drop in declared gold shipments and a surge in smuggling activities.

Though the tax was reduced to 1.5 percent in 2022—leading to a slight rebound in formal exports—it was fully abolished in March 2024 by then-Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, a decision credited with increasing official exports this year.

Still, the report noted that an estimated 34 metric tons of gold went undeclared in 2023—nearly matching the country’s officially recorded output from the artisanal sector.