By: Kemo Kanyi
Muhammed B.S. Jallow, Gambia’s Vice President has urged Chief Economists of African Governments to prioritise mechanisms that enhance domestic resource mobilisation as the continent cannot solely rely on external financial supports.
VP Jallow made this call at a 4-day Chief Economists of Government Networking meeting, which commences in The Gambia on Tuesday at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre.
He says the current trends in finance, trade, and geopolitics suggests that Africa cannot solely rely on external financing of key developments such as energy.
“More than ever, our strength as a continent will be measured by our ability to coordinate ourselves and to mobilise domestic resources through taxes and private capital, so we finance our development agenda with pride and focus,” he stated.
Expressing his pleasure about the engagement of the Africa Chief Economists, VP Jallow says he is glad that the Chief Economist of the Government Network will use the forum to launch its major tax report on financing African economies from within.
Reacting to a report written by economic advisors across the region, “on the pathway to increasing domestic financing for development,” VP Jallow says it is “indeed commendable.”
Reflecting on The Gambia’s economic performance on internal reliance, he says the domestic resource mobilisation of the government has made significant strides in this area, increasing tax revenue from 7.1 million and 10% of GDP to 18.8 million and 7.2% of GDP in 2024.
He informed the Africa Economic Chiefs that The Gambia’s progress has been underpinned by substantive reforms to improve the tax administration and processes such as the rollout of a secure world and implementation of a single window platform. “The data in a digital way will develop the deployment of a custom and inline border control policy, implementation of economic electronic excise stamp for key manufacturing businesses and importers, implementation of the fuel marketing process, and the approval in 2024 of the EU policies establishing structured rules for the administration, monitoring and reporting that has collectively help expand fiscal space and strengthen economic resilience.” However, he said, the Gambia also recognised the need to balance revenue mobilisation efforts with the realities on the ground.
VP Jallow explains that without economic growth and rising incomes, the revenue collection may not realise the desired outcomes that The Gambia has achieved.
