Ghana to hike taxes on mining companies: budget

Ghana will seek to boost revenues from its mining industry next year by hiking taxes, according to a text of the 2012 budget delivered to parliament on Wednesday.

The corporate tax rate on miners will increase to 35 percent from 25 percent and a separate 10 percent tax on windfall profits will be introduced, according to the text.

The move follows talks between Ghana's government and gold miners last month, in which the government proposed new ways for the country to benefit from the soaring price of the precious metal.

Ghana is Africa's second-biggest gold producer nation and the International Monetary Fund said in October it had recommended the country consider increasing taxes or introducing new ones to boost revenue.

Ghana, also the continent's newest oil producer and the world's No. 2 cocoa grower, expects GDP growth of 9.4 percent in 2012 from 13.6 percent in 2011.

With oil not expected to contribute hugely significantly to overall revenue for some time, the effort to raise revenue elsewhere in the economy, especially the 10 percentage point increase in the tax rate for mines - is a sound move, said Razia Khan, an analyst at Standard Chartered.

Firms operating in Ghana include subsidiaries of Newmont Gold, AngloGold Ashanti and South Africa-based Goldfields.

The Ghana Mine Workers Union have been calling for the imposition of a windfall tax in addition to raising the country's stake in the mines to enable the economy to benefit from the attractive gold prices.