Ghana’s extractive sector transparency body has called on the government to immediately scrap the 3% Growth and Sustainability Levy (GSL) on mining companies, warning that retaining it alongside the newly enacted sliding-scale royalty regime could push the total fiscal burden on gross mineral production to levels without precedent in global mining.
The Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), in a statement issued on Friday March 13, said that while the principle behind the new royalty framework is sound, the cumulative weight of both instruments threatens to undermine the country’s standing as a competitive investment destination for the sector.
GHEITI acknowledged that linking royalties to gold price movements is a fair reform, as it allows the state to share both the risks and rewards of commodity price cycles more equitably with investors. However, it said the real pressure point lies in what surrounds the royalty, not the royalty itself.
The new sliding-scale regime, which matured into law on March 9, 2026, sets royalty rates between 5% and 12% depending on international gold prices, with approximately one percentage point added for every $500 rise in the price per ounce.
The problem, GHEITI explained, is that the GSL compounds that structure significantly. Because the levy is applied to gross production and is not tax-deductible, it functions at a heavier effective rate than its headline figure suggests, translating to roughly 4.6% in royalty-equivalent terms and potentially lifting the combined burden on gross mineral production above 16%, a level GHEITI described as unprecedented in global mining fiscal regimes.
The body further warned that the manner in which the GSL was introduced remains a lasting source of investor concern. GHEITI noted that the sudden introduction of the levy without prior consultation with the industry disrupted long-term corporate investment planning, and said fiscal predictability, not the royalty rate itself, now represents the most serious threat to Ghana’s investment attractiveness.
The government’s current offer falls short of what GHEITI and industry bodies are demanding. Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson has proposed cutting the GSL by two percentage points rather than removing it entirely, a position the Ghana Chamber of Mines has publicly said is insufficient. The Chamber has separately proposed a narrower royalty band of 4% to 8%, with wider price thresholds to prevent mines from being pushed into higher brackets too quickly.
GHEITI called on the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources to explore a reduced royalty rate specifically for small-scale miners, arguing that bringing more operators into the formal tax and royalty-paying system would serve both revenue and governance objectives.
The initiative encouraged continued structured dialogue between government and the mining industry to refine the royalty band design, which several operators and development partners have described as overly aggressive in its current form.
