Accra, Tuesday 12th October, 2021 - The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta has charged the newly reconstituted Board for Minerals Income and Investment Fund (MIIF) to build a world class Minerals industry.
He assured the Board of Ministry’s support as MIIF could maximize revenue from mining and exploration for the benefit of “Ghana and Ghanaians, monetizing mining sector income in a beneficial, transparent accountable and sustainable manner and implement measures to reduce the budgetary exposure to mineral income fluctuations”.
He said these when he inaugurated a nine-member board of the Fund with the task to focus on modernizing Ghana’s mining and metal exploration sector.
The establishment of the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) is consistent with the requirements of the Minerals Income Investment Fund (Act 978) as amended. The intent of its existence among other things was to serve as a strategic lever for the economic transformation of the country.
Enumerating some of the initiatives introduced by MIIF which included the small-scale mining incubation strategy; mineral marketing strategy; (which is to buy gold as part of investments) and developing the non-gold sector (such as quarrying), Mr. Ofori-Atta drummed home the need for the reconstituted Board to review them and ensure they continue to the point of completion.
To this end, he tasked the board to transform the sector through effective partnerships and alliances thereby creating jobs, boosting economic growth, and supporting the country's transformation agenda of a Ghana Beyond Aid.
Mr. Ofori-Atta recommended an effective partnership between MIIF and the Central Bank of Ghana, BoG, especially, as the Bank launched its domestic gold purchase programme, as part of effort to build gold reserves.
The Minister noted that the gold purchase programme sought to pave way for BoG to grow its foreign exchange reserves to foster confidence and enhance currency stability.
Mr. Ofori-Atta recalled that, MIIF had earlier worked with GRA to realign revenues from Ghana’s gold royalties and engaged with stakeholders with emphasis on non-gold royalties. He revealed that, the Fund currently has GH1.9 billion under management.
The Chairperson, Prof. Douglas Boateng, in his speech pledged the commitment of the Board and intimated that, they would use their supervisory time to guide MIIF into long-term wealth creation and possibly collaborate with other African countries to achieve the expected objectives.
Key to his call, he stressed that the fund would “aggressively” encourage and support deserving women and other Ghanaians to venture the mining and exploration industry.
Prof. Boateng indicated that, the fund received USD 220 million worth of royalties and challenged himself to increase the amount four times within six years. He, however, added that, the increase could be realized with the right resources including human capital.
The reconstituted board includes Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, Felicia Nana Ama Dapaah Gyamfi-Ashley, George Mireku Duker and Akosua Apea Osafo. Others are, Grace Ofori-Sarpong, Ammishaddai A. Owusu-Amoah, Maxwell Opoku-Afari and Kow Abaka Essuman. END
