Ghana loses $6.56 billion in potential revenue from the mining sector every year due to the government’s limited participation in mineral extraction, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has revealed.
The country could have generated that additional money from mining in 2025 if its revenue generation from the sector had matched Botswana’s performance. The IFS made this known at a policy briefing on low government revenue mobilisation in Accra.
The Executive Director of the IFS, Dr Said Boakye, said the situation reflected the country’s inability to maximise returns from its considerable mineral resources. He identified revenue leakages, including tax evasion, underreporting, tax avoidance and collusion involving revenue administrators, as major factors undermining domestic revenue mobilisation.
Dr Boakye cited revelations by the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Anthony Sarpong, in April 2026 that the country had lost more than GHS 11 billion in revenue at its ports.
Ghana’s total revenue and grants-to-GDP ratio stood at 15.7 per cent in 2022, against the average of 20.1 per cent for 25 sub-Saharan African countries examined in the IFS report. The institute estimated that Ghana would have collected GHS 288.26 billion in total revenue and grants in 2025 if its revenue-to-GDP ratio had matched the sub-Saharan African average.
Dr Boakye attributed Botswana’s stronger performance to the government’s active involvement in the mining sector through partnerships with private companies.
Dr Boakye recommended greater government participation in the extractive sector through direct investment and partnerships with private companies. He also proposed production-sharing agreements as an alternative to the existing concession arrangements, saying such agreements would provide the government with better returns from the exploitation of mineral resources.
The IFS report highlighted the need for the government to address the challenges facing the mining sector to maximise returns from its considerable mineral resources.
The low government revenue mobilisation has serious implications for public investment and the country’s debt situation. Dr Boakye said the revenue shortfall usually leads to a shortage of money to fund the government’s developmental projects, making it resort to borrowing.
This has led to frequent large debt build-ups, high debt service costs, and fiscal or debt crisis. The IFS report recommended that the government should use the upcoming 2027 Budget to correct the leakage in the mining sector.