Hommam Al Nassim 
“Swiss Aid”, an aid and support organization based in Switzerland, stated that “gold smuggling in Africa continues to grow. It has doubled between 2012 and 2022.”
According to the organization, “between 321 and 474 tons of artisanal gold are produced annually in Africa without declaring it.”
The company indicated in its report entitled “On the Trail of African Gold” that “at least 435 tons of gold were smuggled from the African continent in the year 2022 alone.” These are important numbers that represent a significant loss of revenue for many African countries.
The report, which was published by the organization on Thursday evening, added that “tracking the path of gold from its extraction to its final use is not an easy matter. After being extracted, the precious metal will be sold, transported, processed, exported, reprocessed and then resold. All of this is often done by several people in different countries. “A lot of gold trading is murky.”
The report pointed out that “the results are astonishing: every year, between 321 and 474 tons of artisanal gold are produced in Africa without being declared. This equates to a value of between $24 billion and $35 billion, in addition to between 72 and 80% of the total artisanal gold production in Africa.”
According to the research’s authors, Mark Omel and Evan Schultz, “the importance of these numbers increases when we know that gold is the main source of income for many African countries.”
Switzerland is one of the top 3 importers of African gold, along with the UAE and India. Switzerland also imports a large amount of gold from Dubai (more than 1,670 tons of gold between 2012 and 2022).
Since there are no mines in the Emirates, it also imports gold, most of it from Africa. But this gold is not always advertised. The study reveals that between the years 2012 and 2022, 2,596 tons of undeclared gold were imported for export to the UAE from Africa.
The value of 435 metric tons of smuggled gold is estimated at $30.7 billion, according to the gold prices announced on May 1, as “the vast majority of this gold is imported by the United Arab Emirates before being re-exported.”
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