South Sudan Taxing the Hand that Feeds It

 The Wall Street Journal published on 8 October 2024 an article titled "South Sudan's Economic Crisis Is So Bad It's Taxing Its Only Lifeline" by Nicholas Bariyo.  

South Sudan's economy is collapsing as a result of disruption to its oil exports, flooding, and mismanagement.  The government has resorted to taxing international aid deliveries and supplies belonging to the UN peacekeeping operation that helps protect it.  

Kenya Cracks Down on Under Invoiced Goods from China

 Kenya's Business Daily published on 20 September 2023 an article titled "Kenya Targets Chinese Imports in New Tax Evasion Crackdown" by Dominic Omondi.

Kenya imports most of its finished goods from China.  The government has concluded that the value of most of these products, especially electronics such as mobile phones and computers, have not been accurately priced, leading to huge tax losses.  The government will begin working with tax authorities to determine the true value of "high-risk imports from China."

DRC Reviewing Chinese Mining Contracts

 The East African published on 11 April 2023 an article titled "DR Congo to Audit and Review 'Unfair' Chinese Mining Contracts" by Patrick Ilunga.

The DRC has begun to review mining contracts with Chinese companies to ensure improved revenue collection.  Chinese companies have earned at least $10 billion from contracts in the past decade while the DRC has benefitted from only $822 million of infrastructure construction.  

Tax Collection in Somalia

The Rift Valley Institute published in May 2020 a paper titled "Tax and the State in Somalia: Understanding Domestic Revenue Mobilization" by Sagal Abshir, Khalif Abdirahman, and Hannah Stogdon.

Somalia faces major challenges in creating an effective system of domestic taxation.  Revenue collection by the federal government suffers due to competition it faces from other systems of governance--both traditional and religious, as well as by non-state actors--which also collect taxes, or other financial contributions.  Often, they do this with more efficiency and accountability than the federal government.

Al-Shabaab's Tax Racket in Somalia

The Washington Post published on 30 August 2019 an article titled "'If I Don't Pay, They Kill Me': Al-Shabaab Tightens Grip on Somalia with Growing Tax Racket" by Omar Faruk and Max Bearak.

The al-Shabaab terrorist organization in Somalia finances much of its activity by extorting money from Somali business persons. The authors state that the growth of al-Shabaab's tax revenue stands at odds with the federal government's claims that the insurgency is on it back foot--and in sharp contrast to the U.S. military's claims that its operations in Somalia are weakening the insurgency.

African Economic Outlook 2017

The African Development Bank, the Development Centre of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the UN Development Programme published on 22 May 2017 "African Economic Outlook 2017: Entrepreneurship and Industrialization."

This annual massive study reports that in 2016, Africa's economic growth slowed to 2.2 percent from 3.4 percent in 2015 due to low commodity prices, weak global recovery and adverse weather conditions, which impacted agricultural production in some regions. Africa's economic growth is expected to rebound to 3.4 percent in 2017 and 4.3 percent in 2018.

Although economic headwinds experienced in the last two years appear to have altered the "Africa rising narrative," the African Development Bank believes the continent remains resilient, with non-resource dependent economies sustaining higher growth for a much longer period. With dynamic private sectors, entrepreneurial spirit and vast resources, Africa has the potential to grow even faster and more inclusively.

Impact of Chinese Aid and Investment in Liberia

USAID published on 1 November 2016 a study titled "China and the African State: Evidence from Surveys, Survey Experiments, and Behavioral Games in Liberia" by Robert A. Blair, Brown University, and Philip Roessler, College of William and Mary.

Contrary to expectations, the study found that although exposure to Chinese aid and investment has improved Africans' perceptions of Chinese donors and investors, it generally has not affected their views of their own governments, nor has it changed their willingness to contribute to government social service provision through tax compliance.

African Economic Outlook 2016

The African Development Bank (AfDB)has published its "African Economic Outlook 2016."

It is useful to compare this report with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) report posted below on 25 August. AfDB covers all of Africa while the IMF looks only at Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Both reports agree that Africa's growth rate in 2015 was about 3.5 percent, but the AfDB is more optimistic about the growth rate in 2016. The IMF says the SSA growth rate will be about 3 percent while AfDB says for all of Africa it will be about 3.7 percent. Including North Africa in the AfDB number does not account for the different projections.

External Financial Flows and Tax Revenues for Africa

The African Development Bank has just released its African Economic Outlook for 2015.  Chapter 2 titled "External Financial Flows and Tax Revenues for Africa" reports that private external flows in the form of investment and remittances now drive growth in external finance.  Foreign investments are expected to reach $73.5 billion in 2015.  Foreign direct investment is moving away from mineral resources and into consumer goods and services.  African sovereign borrowing is rocketing.  Remittances have increased six-fold since 2000 and are projected to reach $64.6 billion in 2015.  Official development assistance will decline in 2015 to $54.9 billion.