Physical Address
Indirizzo: Via Mario Greco 60, Buttigliera Alta, 10090, Torino, Italy
The Minister of Finance, Abdelkrim Bouzred.
The importance of tax administration in achieving development objectives in Africa was underlined by the Minister of Finance, Abdelkrim Bouzred, who spoke this Tuesday at the opening of the work of the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF 2025) hosted by Algeria for the first time, placed under the theme “Adoption of effective and targeted approaches for equitable tax systems”, calling for African tax cooperation.
The minister, who officially launched the Forum in the presence of several members of government, heads of organizations, business leaders and representatives of African tax administrations, underlined the importance of this meeting. “This Forum can play a major role in coordinating the efforts of African countries and their tax administrations, in order to achieve efficiency and objectives allowing balanced management of development, particularly within a framework of social justice,” said the minister. In this sense, he highlighted “the importance of tax administration for all countries in the world, in particular for African countries still developing, which seek to find the quickest route to achieving their objectives”.
For his part, the president of the Forum on African Tax Administration, Edward Kieswetter, called for unified efforts to realize the African Union Vision 2063, which aspires to an integrated, prosperous and financially self-sufficient Africa, ensuring the dignity and well-being of every African citizen.
The next step requires, according to the President of the Forum, the establishment of fair tax systems, guaranteeing a fair contribution from the rich and large companies, while protecting modest incomes and small businesses, and strengthening African and international cooperation to fight tax evasion and the transfer of profits abroad.
Highlighting the continent’s great potential in terms of immense natural wealth and creative minds, Mr. Kieswetter praised the tangible progress made by many African countries in digitalizing their tax systems and combating illicit financial flows, adding that these efforts have helped recover billions of dollars belonging to African people. He considered this to be “an essential step forward towards financing development from internal resources”.
The key role of technology and digitalization
For her part, the Executive Secretary of the African Tax Administration Forum, Mary Baine, insisted on the central role of tax revenues in financing sustainable development in Africa, emphasizing the need to move from discourse to action and from analysis to concrete solutions adapted to the African context.
According to her, the development of the continent can only be achieved if States manage to mobilize their financial resources and manage them in an equitable, efficient and transparent manner. Ms. Baine added that complying with the tax system must be done on the basis of trust and not under duress, saying technology and digitalization have become essential levers to improve the efficiency and fairness of tax collection.
The Executive Secretary of the Forum further recalled that the average rate of taxes in relation to GDP in Africa has stood at 15% over the last eleven years, or “much less than in developed countries where it exceeds 20%”. She specified that indirect taxes, notably VAT, represent around 30% of total revenues, but that only five countries out of thirty-nine achieve half of their real potential in this area.
Recover an additional $10 billion by 2030
Ms. Baine said the African Tax Administration Forum has launched the Revenue Choices for Development in Africa initiative, which aims to help African countries recover up to an additional $10 billion by 2030, while accelerating the digital transformation of tax administrations.
She also highlighted the role of digitalization and the use of artificial intelligence in improving tax collection, tools which will also help detect fraud, affirming that data is now the “new oil”.
Based on studies carried out in this direction, the executive secretary of the Forum on African Tax Administration indicated that the digitalization of tax systems could increase revenues by up to 3% of GDP.