The measure also covers the sale of gold by small-scale miners to accredited traders for the eventual disposal to the central bank. “Our gold miners will have higher purchasing power so the government stands to gain from the value added taxes on goods consumed by them. Less of the poor gold miners would sink into the income category that the government will have to subsidize through the conditional and non conditional cash transfer,” Guinigundo said. Guinigundo said the BSP worked hard for the last few years and its passage is a strong symbol that the government values the welfare of small scale gold miners who are forced to settle for lower prices for their gold in the black market. If we use dollars to buy gold from the world market, it would simply involve a rebalance of the foreign exchange reserve composition from dollar to gold,” Guinigundo said.

Source: Philippine Star May 22, 2019 16:00 UTC