The Regional Seminar on the Establishment of a Good Governance Framework in Customs and Tax Administrations opens in Brazzaville
13 Jan, 2020
Madame Minister of Planning, Statistics and Regional Integration, Ingrid Olga Ghislaine Ebouka-Babackas, representing her colleague Calixte Nganongo, in charge of Finance and Budget, opened, Monday 13 January 2020, in Brazzaville (Congo), the Regional Seminar on the establishment of a good governance framework in Customs and Tax Administrations.
Organised by the Technical Assistance Regional Centre of the International Monetary Fund for Central Africa (Afritac-Centre), in partnership with the IMF Public Finance Department (FAD), this seminar is held under the theme: “The Establishment of a Good Governance Framework in Customs and Tax Administrations”. Participants from Burundi, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (RDC), Central African Republic, Saô-Tomé and Chad, will be discussing on best practices to improve public finance governance in their respective countries.
In her opening remarks, Madame Minister pointed out some shortcomings in the customs and tax revenue collection, following a diagnosis established on several levels, with the assistance of partners, including the IMF. These deficiencies relate to the institutional framework, with an inadequate organisation, concerning performance targets; the management of taxable persons, especially with regards to the difficult identification of taxpayers; the difficult control of the operational risks of administrations, in connexion with the effective fight against tax fraud; the method of settling disputes, with the putting in place, still awaited, of independent structures for the improved assessment of the litigation files of customs users and taxpayers; and the principles of accountability and transparency to be better implement.
During 5 days, until Friday 17 January 2020, participants will get into working groups around the issues of the programme. Among these issues, Madame Minister instructed them to lay emphasis on the principles of good governance, in order to promote integrity and reduce corruption; transparency and accountability of customs and tax administrations, with regards to their responsibility in the public finance management; harmonisation and modernisation of procedures, in view of easing the access to services and improve application systems concerned.
