Concord Times (Freetown)
Sahr Morris Jr
9 January 2010
Freetown — Sierra Leone has imposed a new 15 percent export tax on diamonds worth more than $500,000.
The new tax, which went into effect on December 28, follows a mining act passed by parliament last November, which raised taxes on diamonds to 6.5 percent from a previous 5 percent, and on gold and other precious metals to 5 percent from 4 percent.
"The new tax of 15 percent is a windfall," deputy minister of mineral resources Abdul Ignosse Koroma told Reuters. "Diamonds exported under the former 6.5 percent (tax) were not in the interest of the country."
Sierra Leone, which is also believed to be rich in titanium ore rutile, is trying to attract investors to help rebuild its economy after the 1991-2002 civil war.
However, sources have it that traders fear a 15 percent levy on high-value stones may prove counterproductive, leading to potential diamond smuggling and thereby possibly reversing the control on rough exports that the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme has successfully implemented till now.
The most recent official Sierra Leonean export figures valued shipments of diamonds at $36 million in the first six months of 2009, down from around $50 million in the same period of 2008.
Also in 2008, the country exported 371,285 carats worth $98 million, according to the ministry of mineral resources. Diamond exports declined compared to the previous year, when they totaled 448,928 carats at $141.5 million.
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