( 3 minutes read)
· Although Gold had rallied to a record high above US$2 070 this year, Africa’s largest gold producer Zimbabwe could not take advantage of the unprecedented increase
· Zimbabwe, which has set eyes on achieving annual earnings by way of exports at US$12 billion by 2023, has a target of a US$4 billion contribution for gold
· This calls for improving on its 2018 record gold earnings of US$1.3 billion, achieved from deliveries amounting to 33.2 tons
Although Gold had rallied to a record high above US$2 070 this year, Africa’s largest gold producer Zimbabwe could not take advantage of the unprecedented increase.
Zimbabwe, which has set eyes on achieving annual earnings by way of exports at US$12 billion by 2023, has a target of a US$4 billion contribution for gold. This calls for improving on its 2018 record gold earnings of US$1.3 billion, achieved from deliveries amounting to 33.2 tons. Whether the target would be achieved is a big question mark due to the government’s failure to pay miners.
Fidelity Printers and Refiners (Fidelity), which is owned by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is the only buyer of gold. It has experienced a slump in both gold deliveries and earnings since 2018’s record output. In 2019, the country earned US$946 million from the delivery of 27.6 tons of bullion. The downturn in output has continued this year also despite gold mining declared as an essential service during the Covid-19 lockdown period.
Fidelity says that gold deliveries for the nine months to September slumped to 14.7 tons from 20.8 tons produced for the same period in 2019. Deliveries for the three months to September were the year’s lowest quarterly outturn down 17.4% from the previous quarter. The month of September outturn paints a gloomy picture after official deliveries plunged 50% to 1.4 tons from 2.8 previous year comparison.
