NEW YORK (Commodity Online): The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has chalked out a programme for technical assistance and education for African countries to enable them to monitor and regulate their diamond and precious metals sectors.

The IMF also expressed its concern over the rise in links between the trade in precious minerals and illicit financial flows, corruption, drug trafficking, arms smuggling and the financing of terrorism.

The IMF hopes that the programme would facilitate better regulation and order of the precious minerals sector, which in turn can help these African countries tackle such occurrence and increase revenues and better their fiscal situation.

There are six countries from 16 that will be participating in the IMF workshops. These are Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Mali, and Togo. The programme will be funded with contributions from Britain, France, Kuwait, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Switzerland.   

“In the last few years, a number of reports have raised concerns about the existence of links between the trade in precious minerals and illicit financial flows, corruption, drug trafficking, arms smuggling and the financing of terrorism,” the IMF reported.

With Africa’s gold production estimated at $19 billion a year, and the continents’ diamond output valued at around $6 billion, the IMF stressed that an unknown amount is tapped each year for criminal purposes.

In the second phase of the programme, participants will set up anti-money laundering programmes and combat financing terrorism strategies, with support from IMF-backed experts.

Better regulation and oversight of the precious minerals sector will not only help these countries combat illegal activity, but also boost revenues and improve their fiscal situation.

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