West Africa: ECOWAS to Hold Discussion With GOL On VAT

26 May 2022
The New Dawn (Monrovia)

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says it is sending a three-member high-level delegation to Monrovia from 30th May to 2nd June 2022 to hold series of discussions with the Liberian Government to support the process leading to the smooth transition from Goods and Service Tax (GST) to Value Added Tax (VAT) in Liberia.

The GOL will be represented at the talks by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, the Minister of Justice, the Commissioner-General of the Liberia Revenue Authority and the VAT Reform Committee.

The ECOWAS side will be led by Mr. Tei KONZI, Commissioner of Trade, Customs and Free Movement with Mr. Salifou TIEMTORE, Director of Customs and Taxation and Mrs. Renilde BAZAHICA, PATF Expert on VAT as members.

The ECOWAS delegation is also expected to meet with representatives of the European Union (EU) and (USAID) including the ECOWAS Special Representative in Liberia as well as create modalities for engagements with the National Legislature.

According to Liberia's VAT Ministerial Focus Person, Assistant Finance Minister T. Ojuku Nyenpan, the ECOWAS delegation will specifically focus the discussions on the "roadmap towards a possible adoption of the VAT Project so as to bring Liberia into regional alignment with the rest of the sub-region; Better understand the main challenges faced by Liberia, Identify the support from ECOWAS in order to propose practical solutions leading to the adoption of the VAT within the desired timeframe".

The scheduled high-level talks come following the successful launch of the Support Program for Fiscal Transition in West Africa (PATF) activities in Liberia in November 2021. PATF is being financed by the European Union (EU) under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) for the benefit of ECOWAS Member States.

As part of PATF activities, Liberia is receiving specific support under this program for which the Government of Liberia is expected to implement VAT in the country in line with ECOWAS standards. To support this component, a non-principal expert is now based in Liberia to ensure the effective achievement of program objectives and to introduce the VAT reform in Liberia.

In addition to Liberia, PATF is supporting Nigeria and Guinea Bissau to implement VAT in line with the ECOWAS VAT Directive.

Read the original article on New Dawn.

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