Between 2019 and 2023, Ghana’s mining sector created US$25.2 billion in value, but government collected only US$3.6 billion of it, according to data compiled by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), led by Executive Director Dr Said Boakye.
Botswana’s mining sector was about 56% of Ghana’s size, yet its government collected US$8.6 billion.
The IFS data measure mining value added, the wealth a sector creates, against government revenue from mining. Value added is the wealth created before it is divided between workers, companies and the state.
What was available, and what was collected
| Ghana | Botswana | |
|---|---|---|
| Mining value added, 2019-2023 | US$25.16bn | US$14.06bn |
| Government mining revenue | US$3.65bn | US$8.60bn |
| Government share | 14.5% | 61.1% |
| Left outside government hands | US$21.51bn | US$5.46bn |
| Government revenue per US$100 of value added | US$14.50 | US$61.15 |
In a typical year Ghana’s mining sector added US$5.03 billion, and government collected US$729.6 million. Botswana’s added US$2.81 billion, and its government collected US$1.72 billion. The IFS’s averages of the yearly ratios are 15.0% for Ghana and 60.9% for Botswana.
Year by year
| Year | Ghana’s share (%) | Botswana’s share (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 8.7 | 59.2 |
| 2020 | 16.2 | 61.6 |
| 2021 | 23.2 | 71.0 |
| 2022 | 12.1 | 66.1 |
| 2023 | 14.8 | 46.4 |
Botswana’s worst year beat Ghana’s best
Ghana’s best year was 2021, when government took 23.2% of mining value added. Botswana’s worst year was 2023, at 46.4%, still double Ghana’s best. Ghana’s mining value added was larger than Botswana’s in every year, but its revenue was not.
- 2020: Ghana’s mining value added was about 3.7 times Botswana’s (US$4.99bn against US$1.36bn). Government revenue was almost the same: US$811 million against US$839 million.
- 2022: Ghana’s sector added US$5.36 billion, against Botswana’s US$4.15 billion. Botswana’s government collected US$2.74 billion, about 4.2 times Ghana’s US$650 million.
- 2023: Ghana’s sector was almost twice the size (US$6.27bn against US$3.20bn). Botswana’s government still collected about 60% more (US$1.48bn against US$930 million).
The size of the gap
If Ghana had kept Botswana’s 61.1% share, it would have collected about US$15.4 billion over the five years, roughly US$11.7 billion more than it did, or about US$2.3 billion a year. Botswana’s government collected about US$4.9 billion more than Ghana’s in total, from a sector little more than half the size.
The IFS says the difference is not explained by diamonds being more profitable than gold. In a 2020 article it found that the economic rent, or supernormal profit, from Ghana’s mining sector alone is larger than the whole value of Botswana’s mining output.
Is it getting better?
Not on the IFS’s 2025 figures. Ghana’s mining value added reached US$13.40 billion, but government earned US$1.60 billion, only 11.9%. At Botswana’s average ratio, it would have earned US$8.16 billion, or US$6.56 billion more.
The IFS names low extractive revenue as the first driver of Ghana’s weak revenue mobilisation. Government revenue and grants are only 15.7% of GDP, against a Sub-Saharan African average of 20.1%.
