Billions of dollars worth of gold smuggled from Africa to the UAE annually, new report reveals
- A new report shows that a significant amount of gold is illegally leaving Africa each year.
- Much of this gold is being smuggled to the United Arab Emirates for refining and global distribution.
- The findings highlight a major issue of illicit financial flows and lack of regulatory oversight.
Billions of dollars in gold are taken out of Africa every year. Most of this gold goes to the United Arab Emirates. There, it is made better and sold to people all over the world. This information comes from a report published by Swissaid, a group from Switzerland. In 2022, more than $30 billion worth of gold, which is over 435 metric tons, was taken out of Africa. The main places where African gold goes are the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and Switzerland. The people who wrote the report hope that this will make life better for the local communities in Africa. They also want the working conditions for miners in Africa to improve. The report shows that between 32% and 41% of the gold made in Africa is not declared. The United Arab Emirates is the biggest place where smuggled gold goes. The report says that about 405 metric tons of gold from Africa end up there without being declared. Over a 10-year period from 2012 to 2022, a total of 2,569 metric tons of gold, worth around $115 billion, was taken from Africa to the UAE. The report also says that the difference between the amount of gold the UAE imports and exports from African countries has grown over the years. This means that more gold seems to have been taken out of Africa in the past decade. For example, the amount of gold smuggled out increased from 234 metric tons in 2020 to 405 metric tons in 2022. Switzerland is another big buyer of African gold. In 2022, they imported about 21 metric tons of gold from Africa without declaring it. The United Nations database shows that Switzerland is the main buyer of gold from the UAE. The UAE government says they are taking big steps to stop gold smuggling and the dangers it brings. The Swiss government is aware of the difficulties in knowing where gold comes from. They have put rules in place to stop illegal gold trading. They also want countries outside Africa to say where the gold they import comes from and where it goes. This will help find illegal gold trading.