PARIS, 27 Feb. - (ANA) - Three months after the first meeting in Addis Ababa, at the invitation of the Moroccan authorities and with backing from the European Union, the project’s partners and delegations from a number of African countries met again in Rabat, Morocco from 9 to 11 February 2015, to make preparations for the joint publication of their tax revenue statistics on an annual basis.

This technical workshop, which aimed at exchanging information and experience on data classification and availability, was opened by Mr Omar Faraj, the Kingdom of Morocco’s new Director-General of Taxation. In attendance were representatives of the countries that were present in Addis Ababa – Cameroon, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia –as well as delegates from the initiative’s new members – Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritius, Morocco and Rwanda. Their collaboration laid the groundwork for an expertise-sharing network in which Cape Verde has announced that it would also be taking part.

The aim of the Revenue Statistics in Africa project is to enhance the comparability, quality and accessibility of data on a voluntary basis, using a time-tested methodology and process. The initiative draws on the OECD publication Revenue Statistics – an annual report that since 1972 has presented a unique compendium of internationally comparable tax revenue data built upon the success of similar partnerships between the OECD and regional organisations in Latin America / the Caribbean, as well as in Asia / Pacific.

The project is one of the core priorities of the post-2015 Development Programme and will improve the transparency, reliability and comparability of revenue statistics between African countries, but also with other regions of the world.

This project is the result of a partnership between the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), the African Union Commission and the African Development Bank, along with the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the Centre de rencontres et d’études des dirigeants des administrations fiscales (Meeting and Studies Center of Tax Administration Directors – CREDAF).

The quality of the technical exchanges and the imminent start-up of analytical work on national data would suggest that the official launch of the publication’s first edition could take place in early 2016.  - (ANA)

AB/ANA/ 27 February 2015  - - -