Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman on Thursday reported a 60% increase in gold declarations for the year so far, which he credited in part to the successes in curbing smuggling.
Trotman told reporters at a news conference that gold declarations stood at 243,000 ounces, compared with the same period last year, when the declarations stood at a total of 151,000 ounces.
He said the ministry believes that its efforts at curbing smuggling “are starting to bear fruit.” While stressing that he could not go into too much details, he noted that the ministry did start a programme which has since been taken over the Ministry of Public Security Ministry and the
