According to the 2023 Tax Transparency in Africa (progress report unveiled at the 13th meeting of the Africa Initiative in Cape Town today), African countries have realized additional revenue totaling €1.69 billion through voluntary disclosures, the implementation of information-sharing mechanisms and rigorous offshore investigations.
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From 2009 through 2022, these measures effectively increased tax revenue, interest and penalties, underlining substantial progress in tax transparency across the continent. The report, co-produced by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the African Union Commission and the African Tax Administration Forum, with support from the African Development Bank), presents the progress of 38 African countries in tackling tax evasion and other illicit financial flows (IFFs) through transparency and exchange of information. Five non-member countries participated in the study.
The release of the report comes as African governments continue to ramp up efforts to bolster domestic resource mobilization in the face of economic headwinds, including global inflation and rising debt. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that Africa loses as much as $60 billion every year to illicit financial flows.
South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana praised the Africa Initiative in his opening speech. “Over the past eight years, the Africa Initiative has changed the landscape of tax transparency in Africa and helped mobilize more than €300 million in domestic resources,” he said. Godongwana stressed the importance of political will in efforts to increase tax transparency, but said more could be done. He called for the Africa Initiative to strengthen the capacity of African countries to leverage the exchange of information standards and protocols.
Zayda Manatta, Head of the Secretariat of the Global Forum, presented the report to the participants.
Among the main highlights of the report:
For the first time, an African country reported collecting additional taxes worth €10.6 million through the use of common reporting standard data. The Republic of the Congo, Angola, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone have joined the Global Forum as 165th, 166th, 167th and 168th members (as of June 2022.23 African countries are now parties to the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (the most comprehensive instrument for all forms of cooperation to tackle tax evasion, significantly expanding their exchange of information networks Ten African countries have committed to automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI) ( by a certain date and expected to be implemented in the near future more countries will do so in the future, with the help of the Global Forum and its partners 1,170 civil servants from 37 African countries received training in the effective use of EOI tools by 2022. Another 1,800 civil servants were trained by local trainers who had participated to the Train the Trainer program.In her presentation, Manatta cited a World Bank study that predicted that participation in information exchange mechanisms could increase African countries’ tax revenues from 5% to 19% of GDP.
“The more countries are familiar with this tool, the more they exploit this tool, the more revenue to collect. And if you manage to monitor this link between revenue collection and information sharing, we can further demonstrate the benefits countries get from this tool,” she said.
South African Revenue Commissioner (SARS) and Africa Initiative Co-Chair Edward Kieswetter said cooperation was essential to serve our shared ambition for effective resource mobilization. “A tax risk everywhere is a tax risk everywhere. Tax administrations are called to serve a transformative and higher purpose in the interest of society, Kieswetter said.
Representatives of the Global Forum’s two new African members, Zimbabwe and Angola, attended the meeting. A new toolkit was also released at the event to help tax authorities set up and benefit from initiatives such as the Global Forum.
Launched in 2014, the Africa Initiative is a partnership of the Global Forum, 33 African countries and 16 partners, including the African Development Bank, the African Union Commission, the European Union, and the governments of Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The Africa Initiative aims to ensure that African countries are equipped to participate in advances in global transparency, better combat tax evasion and other illicit financial flows, and ultimately improve domestic resource mobilization.
The 13th Meeting of the Africa Initiative, held on 6-7 July 2023, brought together tax commissioners, senior representatives, experts, as well as regional and international organizations and civil society.
Click here ( to download the report.
Click here for more information (about the 13th Meeting of the Africa Initiative.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
Contact:
Olufemi Terry
Department of Communications and External Relations
African Development Bank
Email: (email protected)
About the African Development Bank Group:
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is the leading development finance institution in Africa. It consists of three different entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 44 African countries with an external office in Japan, the AfDB contributes to the economic development and social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org
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New report shows African countries generated €1.7 billion in additional revenue by tackling tax evasion and illicit financial flows
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