Madagascar Removes Restrictions on Gold Exports, Official Says

Antananarivo, Madagascar, Capital Markets in Africa — Madagascar liberalized gold exports three years after it made the central bank the sole seller of the precious metal, an official said.

A ministerial decision to do so was adopted in July 2015 but it has taken time to implement the amendment, Guy Raoilison, the general manager of the national gold agency known as ANOR, told reporters Thursday in the capital, Antananarivo. The island-nation made its central bank the nation’s only trader of the commodity in June 2012.

Since then, authorities have encouraged operators and traders to declare their stocks and set an October 2015 deadline to make declarations. That target has been moved to the end of March 2016.

Traders have declared 350 kilograms (772 pounds) so far, from only 80 kilograms held during the period of political instability of 2012-13, according to Raoilison. There were still many illegal traders operating secretly, he said.