The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced it would be launching a technical assistance project in Africa, meant to help countries whose GDP, while boosted by mineral exports, is otherwise underdeveloped.

The IMF project aims to help the 16 countries that produce and deal in diamonds, gold, and precious minerals, strengthen their defenses against diamond smuggling, money laundering and terrorist financing.

IDEX Online noted that Africa produces an estimated $19 billion in gold per year and $6 billion in diamonds. The amount of money lost to criminal elements is unknown.

“The trade in precious minerals has been linked to illicit financial flows, corruption, drug trafficking, arms smuggling and the financing of terrorism,” explained Emmanuel Mathias, an IMF senior financial sector expert.

“Better regulation and oversight of the precious minerals sector will not only help these countries combat these phenomena, but also boost revenues and improve their fiscal situation.”

The project will be funded through the International Monetary Fund's Topical Trust Fund, which fights money laundering and terrorist financing. .

The technical assistance will be conducted in two stages: the first stage will see two awareness-raising regional workshops held in Tunisia; and the second stage, the project will help interested countries further develop their national strategies for improving their controls related to precious minerals.

“The lack of transparency of transactions in the precious metals and stones sector has been identified as a major obstacle to tax collection,” said Matthew Byrne, an IMF Senior Counsel. “The implementation of the FATF standard enhances the transparency of transactions and should be beneficial to the general supervision of dealers in precious stones and metals, including for tax audit.”