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 Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a World Bank financer, is ramping up efforts to unlock private capital for Africa, with plans to more than double its annual guarantee issuance on the continent to $6.4 billion over the next three and a half years.
The move is expected to catalyse as much as $23 billion in private sector investment across key sectors, including energy infrastructure, food security, trade finance, digital connectivity and sovereign debt restructuring.
The expansion underscores a growing shift among development finance institutions toward deploying guarantees as a primary tool for de-risking investments in frontier markets and attracting private capital flows into economies often viewed as high-risk.
MIGA’s Managing Director, Mr Tsutomu Yamamoto, said the scaled-up programme would play a critical role in mobilising investment, creating jobs and strengthening economic resilience across African countries.
He noted that the agency’s instruments, ranging from political risk insurance to credit enhancement, debt swaps and portfolio guarantees, are designed to reduce investor exposure and improve project bankability.
The guarantee push will continue to focus on strategic sectors such as power grids, local banking systems, agriculture and food supply chains, as well as digital infrastructure, all of which are seen as foundational to long-term economic growth across the continent.
Although the agency did not disclose specific projects in its pipeline, it said the expansion reflects rising demand for risk-sharing mechanisms in emerging markets, particularly as governments grapple with tight fiscal conditions and limited access to affordable financing.
The development follows a broader restructuring within the World Bank Group nearly two years ago, which consolidated guarantee operations to scale up private sector investment mobilisation globally.
MIGA has already played a role in pioneering debt swap transactions in the Ivory Coast and Angola, while also supporting food security initiatives in Kenya and backing more than 100 energy projects across emerging markets. Its guarantees have further underpinned lending operations in countries such as Ghana and Zambia, helping to stabilise financial systems and sustain credit flows.
The agency’s latest push reflects a wider evolution in development finance strategy, where guarantees are increasingly used to stretch limited public funds and crowd in private investors. By lowering perceived risks, these instruments make large-scale infrastructure and development projects more attractive to commercial financiers who would otherwise stay on the sidelines.
This shift is gaining urgency as many advanced economies scale back aid budgets while simultaneously seeking stronger economic ties and resource access in Africa.
In response, multilateral lenders are leaning more heavily on innovative financial tools like guarantees to bridge funding gaps and sustain development momentum.
MIGA’s broader ambition is to help lift the World Bank Group’s global guarantee issuance to $20 billion annually by 2030, positioning guarantees as a central pillar in financing sustainable development across emerging markets.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange further appreciated by 0.58 per cent on Tuesday, May 19, buoyed by strong investor appetite for unlisted securities.
Data from the bourse showed that the volume of securities traded during the session ballooned by 365,661.8 per cent to 1.9 billion units compared with the previous day’s 514,142 units, as the value of transactions surged by 30,433.9 per cent to N5.3 billion from the preceding session’s N17.4 million, and the number of deals increased by 22.2 per cent, as these trades were executed in 60 deals versus the 27 deals recorded a day earlier.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc ended the trading session as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with the sale of 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities and Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 60.9 million units exchanged for N4.1 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units traded for N415.7 million.
During the session, there were three price gainers and one price loser, led by Afriland Properties Plc, which went down by 5 Kobo to trade at N16.90 per share versus the previous day’s N16.95 per share.
But FrieslandCampina Wamco Plc appreciated by N12.45 to N151.79 per unit from N146.55 per unit, CSCS Plc expanded by 62 Kobo to N70.62 per share from N70.00 per share, and UBN Property Plc added 20 Kobo to close at N2.24 per unit versus N2.04 per unit.
At the close of business, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) rose by 24.05 points to 4,157.75 points from 4,133.70 points, and the market capitalisation chalked up N14.39 billion to close at N2.487 trillion compared with Monday’s N2.473 trillion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further depreciated against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Tuesday, May 19, by 17 Kobo or 0.01 per cent to trade at N1,373.87/$1 compared to the previous day’s N1,373.70/$1.
However, the domestic currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market window by 5 Kobo to close at N1,839.61/£1 versus Monday’s rate of N1,839.66/£1, and gained N5.97 against the Euro to settle at N1,594.52/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,600.49/€1.
Data from GTBank FX bench showed that the Naira appreciated against the US Dollar yesterday by N2 to sell at N1,381/$1 versus N1,383, and at the parallel market, it remained unchanged at N1,390/$1.
The outcome across the board came as Nigeria’s external reserves have shown signs of improvement in recent weeks, which may provide some support for FX market interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and broader macroeconomic stability efforts.
Currency traders and investors are expected to continue monitoring CBN policy direction, foreign portfolio inflows, crude oil earnings, and external reserve performance as key indicators influencing the naira’s trajectory in the coming months.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting began on Tuesday with announcements of decisions expected later on Wednesday after inflation ticked up in April.
In the cryptocurrency market, major digital coins were down as traders focused on macro data, oil prices, and inflation, while the US Senate advanced a measure that could force President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval for the Iran war.
Ripple (XRP) went down by 1.3 per cent to $1.36, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 0.9 per cent to $0.1034, Cardano (ADA) dropped by 0.7 per cent to $0.2499, Ethereum (ETH) declined by 0.5 per cent to $2,124.02, Solana (SOL) depreciated by 0.5 per cent to $84.67, TRON (TRX) dipped by 0.4 per cent to $0.3551, and Binance Coin (BNB) slumped 0.1 per cent to $641.39.
On the flip side, Bitcoin (BTC) appreciated by 0.3 per cent to $77,114.20, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
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