Zimbabwe loses 11 tonnes of gold to smuggling

Zimbabwe lost a third of its average gold production to smugglers last year, according to media reports citing Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR) — an arm of the central bank with a monopoly on buying, refining and exporting the country’s gold.
AFP reports that the country lost around 11 tonnes of gold to “leakages” taking into account that FPR received 19 tonnes of gold in 2020 compared with 33.2 tonnes in 2018.
The bulk of the gold was smuggled informal small-scale miners who sell the precious metal to illicit gold traders rather than FPR. 
FPR head of gold operations Mehluleli Dube was quoted as saying during a parliamentary mining committee hearing that payment delays as a result of foreign currency shortages encouraged miners to sell their gold to smugglers. 
“We have since put some measures in place, and export incentives to encourage our miners to deliver as much gold as possible,” he said.
Zimbabwe loses gold worth $1.5 billion per year due to smuggling, according to the International Crisis Group.
Some government officials have been accused of being involved in the illicit trade and smuggling of gold.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished