Economy
Stakeholders Call for Efficient Tax Systems in Africa
By Dipo Olowookere
African governments have been advised to broaden and protect their tax bases so as to hasten rapid development across the continent.
This suggestion was made at a four-day workshop on protecting the tax base of developing countries, which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last Friday.
The programme was sponsored by the Italian government and participants were urged to use the new skills and knowledge gained at the event in implementing more effective and efficient tax systems that will ensure more resources are harvested for Africa’s development.
Speaking at the end of the technical workshop attended by revenue and tax experts from 23 African countries, Aida Opoku-Mensah, ECA’s Special Adviser on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, thanked Italy saying it was one of the very few developmental partners willing to support programmes that can give capacity to African governments to broaden and protect their tax bases.
She said it was crucial for Africa to have the necessary support so countries can continue to strengthen their potential and by extension improve their domestic resource mobilization which in turn aids the continent to fund their development, in particular the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
“SDGs and taxation, when you look at them you think they are poles apart but if we can support African countries to better manage their tax administration and to be able to increase their domestic resource mobilization, with the right governance strategy, it can lead to the implementation of the SDGs and lead to the reduction of dependency on aid and also put African countries in the driving seat in terms of their development priorities,” said Ms Opoku-Mensah.
She told participants, who received certificates at the end of the workshop, of a Memorandum of Understanding that will be signed by the UN Secretary General and the African Union Chairperson in January next year on the implementation of the SDGs and Agenda 2063.
“It is an important step because we are going to embed into this framework the work that has already started with you in these workshops to protect the continent’s tax base, going forward,” said Ms Opoku-Mensah.
Participants also discussed illicit financial flows (IFFs) through which Africa is losing an estimated $50 annually.
Curbing illicit financial flows, they agreed, would strongly bolster the continent’s efforts to fund her own development.
Giuseppe Sean Coppola, the Deputy Head of Mission at the Italian Embassy in Ethiopia, said his government will continue to support efforts to strengthen capacity in Africa for governments to broaden and protect their tax bases.
He said the availability of more resources to African governments can also improve their quest for regional integration, adding he hoped the training had been useful for participants so they can help protect their respective countries tax bases.
“Italy looks forward to continuing to engage with countries in the region and providing support to further strengthen their potential for domestic resource mobilization,” said Mr Coppola.
“This is one step towards achieving Agenda 2030 and it’s also instrumental to achieving the AU’s Agenda 2063 and we are very pleased to be contributing to that.”
Elene Belleti of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), which ran the workshop, said the training was part of efforts to implement the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA).
“We need to tackle illicit financial flows because we cannot allow the leaking of resources from these countries to continue,” said Ms Belleti.
“We want to tackle tax evasion but on the other hand we cannot only focus on the illicit component. We also have to focus on how to tackle tax avoidance and how to create more transparent tax systems; how to protect the tax base from erosion; how to prevent profit shifting and this I hope is part of the knowledge you gained during the past few days.”
Participants during the four days discussed cross-cutting subjects looking at specific issues related to tax base erosion, how to draft legislation to prevent that, international practices, environmental and extraction industry taxation.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of Geo-Fluids Plc and Afriland Properties Plc propelled the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange up 0.13 per cent on Friday, January 10.
Investors gained N1.4 billion during the trading session after the market capitalisation of the bourse ended at N1.053 trillion compared with the previous day’s N1.052 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) increased at the close of business by 4.07 points to wrap the session at 3,073.93 points compared with 3,069.86 points recorded at the previous session.
Geo-Fluids added 25 Kobo to its value to close at N4.85 per unit compared with the previous session’s N4.60 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 24 Kobo to close at N16.25 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N16.01 per share.
There was a 35.4 per cent fall in the volume of securities traded in the session as investors exchanged 4.3 million units compared to 6.6 million units traded in the preceding session, the value of shares traded yesterday went down by 37.4 per cent to N17.2 million from the N27.5 million recorded a day earlier, and the number of deals decreased by 47.2 per cent to 19 deals from the 36 deals recorded in the preceding day.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 1.9 million units worth N74.2 million, followed by 11 Plc with 12,963 units valued at N3.2 million, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI )Plc with 10.7 million units sold for N2.1 million.
IGI Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 10.6 million units sold for N2.1 million, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 1.9 million units valued at N74.2 million, and Acorn Petroleum Plc with 1.2 million units worth N1.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira witnessed a depreciation on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 10.
According to data from the FMDQ Exchange, the local currency weakened against the greenback yesterday by 0.12 per cent or N1.80 to sell for N1,543.03/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,541.23/$1.
The pressure on the domestic currency came as the access granted to the Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to purchase FX from the official market through the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) platform prepares to end next week, precisely on January 19.
The CBN had given a 42-day window to the operators to access the platform to help stabilise the Naira in December, and this expires next week.
On Friday, the Nigerian currency tumbled against the Pound Sterling in the official market by N30.78 to sell for N1,889.29/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,858.51/£1, but gained N5.48 against the Euro to finish at N1,583.81/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s rate of N1,589.29/€1.
As for the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira remained stable against the US Dollar during the trading session at N1,650/$1, according to data obtained by Business Post.
In the cryptocurrency market, it was bearish as the US economy added 256,000 jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, topping forecasts for 160,000 and up from 212,000 in November (revised from an originally reported 227,000).
However, the readings came after a number of recent economic reports triggered a broad-market pullback across asset classes such as crypto as investors quickly scaled back the idea of a continued series of Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2025.
Cardano (ADA) fell by 3.6 per cent to trade at $0.921, Solana (SOL) slumped by 2.8 per cent to $185.93, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 1.4 per cent to $3,233.27, Litecoin (LTC) lost 1.3 per cent to finish at $103.62, Dogecoin (DOGE) shed 0.5 per cent to sell at $0.3315, Bitcoin (BTC), waned by 0.2 per cent to $94,154.43, and Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 0.1 per cent to $693.30.
On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 1.5 per cent to settle at $2.34, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.
By Dipo Olowookere
Profit-takers took control of Customs Street on Friday, plunging it by 0.08 per cent at the close of trading activities.
The sell-offs were across all the key sectors of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on last trading session of the week.
The insurance space went down by 1.53 per cent, the banking index depreciated by 0.41 per cent, the consumer goods sector weakened by 0.16 per cent, and the energy counter slumped by 0.08 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) tumbled by 79.68 points to 105,451.06 points from 105,530.74 points and the market capitalisation retreated by N48 billion to N64.303 trillion from N64.351 trillion.
Yesterday, investors traded 1.5 billion shares worth N19.4 billion in 12,877 deals compared with the 489.5 million shares worth N13.1 billion transacted in 13,010 deals in the preceding day, indicating a decline in the number of deals by 1.02 deals and a rise in the trading volume and value by 203.14 per cent and 48.09 per cent, respectively.
Wema Bank was the busiest stock with 976.2 million units valued at N9.8 billion, Tantalizers traded 53.0 million units worth 129.6 million, Universal Insurance sold 34.8 million units for N26.8 million, Access Holdings exchanged 33.9 million units valued at N843.8 million, and Nigerian Breweries traded 27.3 million units worth N873.3 million.
The heaviest loss was suffered by Sunu Assurances with a decline of 9.99 per cent to trade at N7.30, Eunisell shed 9.96 per cent to N17.35, SAHCO crumbled by 9.87 per cent to N30.15, DAAR Communications plunged by 9.28 per cent to 88 Kobo, and Sovereign Trust Insurance went down by 7.04 per cent to N1.32.
On the flip side, C&I Leasing gained 10.00 per cent to close at N4.51, Honeywell Flour appreciated by 9.99 per cent to N10.02, Trans Nationwide Express jumped by 9.89 per cent to N2.00, RT Briscoe rose by 9.83 per cent to N2.57, and Secure Electronic Technology grew by 9.46 per cent to 81 Kobo.
Business Post reports that the bourse ended with 33 price gainers and 25 price losers, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
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