Ethiopia Struggles to Control Gold Smuggling

Despite counter measures, it seems that gold smuggling is turning into a challenge for the Ethiopian government. Porous borders are being exploited by gold smugglers. The countries, where this illegally mined gold ends up, do not care about its origin.

In the last nine months, the National Bank of Ethiopia could collect only 3 tons of gold. This is just 50% of the planned amount. The country was supposed to earn $363 million from gold sales, but it has only made 67% of that money.

The country has two types of gold producers, traditional ones and companies. It seems that the traditional gold producers have almost completely stopped sending their gold to the National Bank.

The regions of Oromia, Benishangul Gumuz, Gambella, and Southwest Ethiopia deposited less than the targeted amount of gold. Among the corporate entities contributing to the nation’s gold reserves, Midrock Gold has given the largest amount of gold out of all the companies. But the nine other gold mining companies working in the country have only been able to provide a very small amount, less than 100 kilograms combined.

Some of these companies that are not giving much gold are Stella, Zumbara, Oromia Mining, Elnet, and Izanana Ethno Mining. The case of the Izana company is very concerning. They claimed they would deposit 375 kilograms of gold, but they have not given any gold to the National Bank.

Experts say that a lot of illegally mined gold is being taken out of the country through the borders with Sudan, Kenya, and Somalia. This illegal gold then reaches places like UAE, India, and other countries.

Last month, the National Bank of Ethiopia warned about the illegal gold trade. The bank could not achieve its target of monthly gold collection. Faqadu Dgafe, Deputy Governor and Chief Economist of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), said that the bank could not collect 100 kg of gold this month. He said that since the start of this year, NBE has not been able to collect more than 100 kg of gold every month from traditional gold producers and small associations. Read More…

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