High gold declaration trend continues

GUYANA - Good news for Guyana: Gold continues to perform exceptionally in 2017. Sources at the Guyana Gold Board (GGB) say that declarations in January and February of this year have already surpassed what has been recorded for the same period in 2016. Specifically, 44,468 ounces of gold has been declared for January of this year compared to 35,000 ounces last year. When contacted, Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman declined to give figures, but confirmed that gold is already doing “even better than last year.” The Minister said that the amount of gold declared for January augurs well for the possibility of the sector surpassing last year’s historical declarations. He boasted of the successes for January and February “despite all the other challenges.” The challenges referred to by Trotman include small fallout that came after miners learnt about taxation measures introduced in Budget 2017. The Minister said that he is also impressed by the declarations, given that January is traditionally a “slow month”. Trotman exuded confidence that declarations will rise even more as the APNU+AFC administration buckles down on smuggling. He said that the Ministries of Public Security and Finance are working acidulously to minimize smuggling. Further, Trotman noted that Suriname has adjusted its royalty rate to 4.5 percent, “so the incentive to go over to Suriname (to sell gold) has diminished. He said that Suriname’s move to increase its royalty rate is rooted in the country’s desire to garner more revenue and an understanding between the Governments of Guyana and Suriname “that together we need to address this problem (smuggling)”.

Last year, Finance Minister Winston Jordan said that the nation should be lucky that at least one sector is stepping up to the plate to hold the economy together. He said this as he addressed the contention that the outstanding performance of the gold sector is masking an economic decline. (kaieteurnews. com)