Uganda scraps gold export levy that prompted slump in sales

Uganda is abolishing a 5% export levy on refined gold that led to a slump in shipments overseas.

The levy has been scrapped in the revised revised Minerals and Mining Bill which is awaiting presidential approval, Moses Kaggwa, an acting director at the Finance Ministry said at a conference in the capital, Kampala.

Uganda introduced the levy — as well as a 10% tax on unprocessed gold — on July 1 last year to boost revenue from the metal, which had overtaken coffee as the top foreign exchange earner. It replaced an earlier charge of $200 a ton. Kaggwa didn’t say if a new flat rate fee would be imposed.

(By Fred Ojambo)