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Govt. slashes tax on miners’ imported diesel
Miners will benefit from a 10 percent drop in imported diesel, Government has announced.
Government has agreed to grant a 10 percent reduction on diesel tax as part of the measures to help the struggling gold sector.
The announcement was made yesterday following Tuesday’s meeting between the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MNRE), the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) hosted a meeting with the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) to discuss the plans and initiatives for the mining sector.
According a statement from the Ministry, the meeting updated the Executive Members of the GGDMA on several developments. These included road development and maintenance; the fuel waivers on imported fuel; declarations for last year and tax breaks on spares and equipment.
With regard to the hinterland road works, the Ministry said that GGMC is currently reviewing feasible road designs and construction methods that can be adopted bearing the constraint of financial resources in mind.
“Simultaneously, efforts are being made to implement Road Users’ Agreement for specific heavily traversed roads that are prone to destruction, since it is recognized that heavy usage of the road in wet conditions lead to damage and require continuous rehabilitation at significant cost.”
Last year, GGDMA provided a list of hinterland infrastructure for rehabilitation that it deemed critical. “These roads/bridges were rehabilitated and the same approach will be undertaken in 2015 whereby GGDMA will provide its considerable insight on areas for special focus.”
A meeting on this will be held before January 1 where a list of roads and infrastructure to be rehabilitated and maintained in 2015 will be finalized.
In addition to the fuel importation licence that was granted to the GGDMA Trading Inc. last year to allow for the cheaper importation of fuel, Government has approved the implementation of a tariff waiver of 10% on diesel imported for use only within the mining sector.
On declarations, the Ministry said that combined statistics of all mining operations and gold dealers’ data for 2014 have indicated that the levels of gold output for 2014 dropped as a result of the decline in the global gold prices. Total declaration for 2014 has decreased by 19.45 % when compared to 2013.
The Ministry said it also supported the request for the waiver of tariffs and duties on equipment and spares and this was granted by the Government and implemented by the Guyana Revenue Authority.
A list of 19 suppliers of mining equipment and spares was approved for tax waivers on its importation. “This will reduce the cost of spares and critical supplies for miners and is an addition to the items that are currently imported duty free, such as pumps, flexes, and matting etc.”
It is expected that some15, 000 miners will benefit from tax reduction on diesel.
Meanwhile, Minister Robert Persaud, who was also part of the meeting, said despite the fluctuations in global gold price, the government remains optimistic and will continue to engage and support miners to cushion the effects.
Last year, gold declarations fell short almost 100,000 ounces to 387,000 ounces. Miners, who an excellent for almost five years, was hit hard by the price which fell on the world market with a two-year span by almost US$700 per ounce to US$1200.
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