Ghana's mining sector: its contribution to the national economy

Abstract

With the inception of an Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) by the government in 1983, Ghana's minerals and mining sector has seen a major resurgence over the past one and a half decades. To study the contribution of the sector to the national economy, this paper analyses the results of a survey of the contribution of 12 of 16 large scale mines operating in Ghana by the end of 1998 and also reviews the contribution of the sector as a whole to certain key national economic indicators. In view of the significant contribution identified, the paper also attempts a review of the extent to which the “Resource Curse” phenomenon has characterised the re-emergence of the importance of Ghana's mining sector. The country is, however, not as dependent on its mining sector as some mineral-rich economies, since the contribution of other commodities to national export earnings and GDP is also considerable. The paper concludes that Ghana's mining sector could be sustainable if the policy initiatives, including diversification of the sector, strengthening of linkages other than fiscal, curbing the dependence on imports, curbing public expenditure, and improving productivity through training and appropriate technology transfer, which the government is now focusing on, were implemented.