Solomon Islands to impose 20% export duty on bauxite shipments

At the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing, the Permanent Secretary (PS) for Ministry of Finance & Treasury (MoFT) of Solomon Islands has announced that the export duty on bauxite shipments will be raised by 20%.

The statement was in response to the question posed by the Chairman Rick Hou concerning the value of substantial amount of soil that is exported.

The PS stated, “Three shipment of bauxite have gone so far and government decide to impose 20% export duty payable to the government apart from royalties. For the first two shipments nothing was imposed because government just realized this and impose duty on the third shipment,” he added.

Starting the third shipment, every other shipment of bauxite that leaves the country would have to pay 20% duty. The tariff has been agreed upon by the MoFT and Ministry of Mines & Energy and is calculated upon the dry metric tonne.

However the state of bauxite mining is unsteady considering that the mining lease held by Asia Pacific Investment for the only bauxite operation in the country, Rennell Islands, has been recommended for cancellation by the office of Attorney General (AG) chambers.