Gold exports top US$800M again

Jan 03, 2018 News

Foreign currency earnings from gold last year have once again topped the US$800M mark despite lower declarations.

Gold Board Chairman, Gabriel Lall

The disclosures would come for an all round good performance for the Guyana Gold Board in almost every quarter.
Updating Kaieteur News yesterday, Chairman of the Guyana Gold Board, Gabriel ‘GHK’ Lall, said that export earnings from the yellow metal was US$817M, slightly down from the US$830M the previous year.
However, despite that slight difference in earnings, it is by no means disheartening. Declarations as at December 31, 2017 was 652,876 ounces compared to the 712,706 ounces from the previous year.
That meant that despite almost 60,000 ounces less, the industry only managed to fall short by about US$13M.
The big news, according to the Chairman, is that Gold Board has managed to slash its deficit of $18.9B to $5.4B this year- an improvement of 71 percent.
The state entity had been racking up billions of dollars in losses following the fall in gold prices in the 2012 period. It was left holding stocks that it paid high prices for.
As a result, that deficit to Bank of Guyana had ballooned up to almost $19B.
Prices went down to just over US$1,000 per ounce from almost US$1,900 a few years ago but over the holidays have climbed to almost US$1,320.
Out of the foreign exchange –US$817M- that gold would have earned last year, Gold Board would have contributed US$241M.
According to Lall, Gold Board had stocks left over from last year which it managed to sell at better prices to its overseas buyers.
Guyana would be paying a close eye on gold as it has become now the biggest foreign currency earner, surpassing rice and sugar.
However, the industry has been facing a long-time problem of smuggling to Suriname, Brazil and even out of the region. It is estimated that at least a quarter of the gold is not being declared.
The authorities have managed to crackdown on some instances but the problem still lingers.
Lall, a few weeks ago, disclosed that the entity has been careful in its trading selling in small portions and often to reduce its losses.