Gold deliveries to Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR) stood at 12.779 kg in the first seven months of this year, slightly higher than the 12.017 kg produced during the same period last year, central bank governor John Mangudya said Thursday.
He said small-scale gold producers contributed 52.8 percent of the total gold deliveries to FPR during the first seven months of 2021, which compares with the 55.8 percent delivered for the same period in 2020.
“Gold exports in 2021 are forecasted to be higher than in 2020 on account of the recently introduced 2.5 to 5 percent gold delivery incentive and the COVID-19 induced restriction that could have curtailed gold leakages through smuggling,” Mangudya said in his mid-term monetary policy review statement.
Gold is Zimbabwe’s second-largest mineral export earner after platinum.
Last year, the country produced 19 tons of gold due to lower contribution from small-scale miners, down from 27.66 tons in 2019.
Small-scale producers delivered only 9.35 tons in 2020, compared with 17.48 tons in 2019.
Zimbabwe’s gold deliveries to FPR have been on the decline over the past few years, from a peak of 33.2 tons in 2018.
In January this year, the central bank announced plans to unbundle FPR, the country’s sole gold buyer, into two separate companies and sell a majority stake in the new gold refinery business to miners, in a bid to boost gold output.
Mangudya said in the mid-term policy Thursday that the central bank was in the final stages of the partial privatization of FPR through offering 60 percent of its shareholding in the gold refinery business to producers of gold.
“The Bank will retain 40 percent in the gold refining company and 100 percent in the printing, minting and gold financing business.”
“It is expected that the unbundling process of FPR will be completed in 6 months’ time given the need to ensure transparency, adhere to international best practice and provide ample time to would-be new shareholders to complete the necessary due diligence,” Mangudya said. Enditem
