Guinea gives mining companies until August 31 to return export proceeds

Guinea authorities, Thursday August 3, gave August 31 ultimatum to mining companies operating in the country to repatriate at least 50 per cent of their revenues from exports.

The warning came from the ministry of Mining and Geology, citing articles of the Guinea’s mining Code.

Moussa Magassouba head of the department addressed the companies in the presence of several other ministers including Lancinet Conde, the Budget Minister as well the Head of the country’s Central bank.

Magassouba argued that the warning is meant to provide the State with revenues in view coping with the rising cost of life and means to strengthen the national currency. “It is not just in Guinea, it’s in every country in the world. When you take goods with you, those goods are used as currency to buy the other goods we import. And if those resources don’t come back, the currency gets weaker and weaker. And that makes the cost of living expensive.

As part of this reconstruction process, over the past year, the Governor of the Central Bank and I have opened discussions with exporting companies. There are companies other than mining companies. But you know that Guinea is a country with a strong mining vocation. Unfortunately, we have observed that despite all that has been said, the level of repatriation remains very low. And this is unacceptable”, L. Conde explained.
Per the Central bank, the State only received as of June 30, 2023, $8 million out of $90 million it was expected to gain from the companies.

Also according to the Guinea’s financial regulator, banks which provided loans to the firms did not receive any return, out of $17.5 million planned. The institution branded the refusal to return the proceeds “serious laxity”. “The law goes with these consequences. We have called on the players in a friendly manner, to tell the mining companies that we want to have a clearer picture of this situation by August 31, and that export earnings should be repatriated, not at 100%, but at 50%. Elsewhere, it’s 100%. Here, we’re saying at least 50% of export earnings repatriated before the 31st”, minister Conde stressed.

Guinea’s national budget depends heavily on mining activities’ revenues. The country’s exports are made nearly 90 per cent of mining products.