Revenue Statistics in Africa 2023 is a joint publication by the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, the OECD Development Centre, the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) and the African Union Commission, with technical support from the African Development Bank and the Cercle de réflexion et d’échange des dirigeants des administrations fiscales and with the financial support of the European Union within the framework of the Pan‑African Statistics Programme (PAS 2) implementation.

Revenue Statistics in Africa 2023 presents internationally comparable indicators on tax and non‑tax revenues for 33 African countries up to and including 2021, the second year of the COVID‑19 pandemic. The Revenue Statistics in Africa initiative is a unique tool to understand Africa’s diverse and complex economic environment, for tracking progress in domestic resource mobilisation, and for informing the design and analysis of tax policy across the African continent. As such, it contributes to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. Revenue Statistics in Africa also contributes to the implementation of the second phase of the Pan‑African Statistics Programme, a joint initiative between the African Union and the European Union that aims to improve measurement of progress in the process of African Integration by promoting the use of statistical data of quality in the decision‑making process and policy monitoring. This edition of Revenue Statistics in Africa includes a special feature on the VAT Digital Toolkit for Africa.

Achieving the African Union’s Agenda 2063, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and implementing the Addis Ababa Action Agenda require mobilising additional finance in general, and domestic resources in particular, to fund public goods and services. Taxation provides a predictable and sustainable source of government revenue, in contrast with the volatility of other important sources of public revenues, such as grants and mineral royalties. For African countries, where external debt and dependency on volatile resource revenues present notable economic challenges, enhancing domestic resource mobilisation is not just a fiscal strategy; it is also a critical pathway to achieving self‑reliance, economic resilience and sustainable development, aligning specifically with the aspirations set out in Agenda 2063 for a self‑sufficient, integrated and prosperous Africa.

A complete picture of public finances requires statistics that go beyond taxation, especially for many African countries that obtain substantial revenues in the form of grants or royalties from oil and minerals. Revenue Statistics in Africa collects statistics on both tax and non‑tax revenues, non‑tax revenues being government revenues that do not meet the OECD definition of taxation. Although there are some important methodological differences between tax and non‑tax revenues, they need to be included in any accounting of a country’s total financial resources. This chapter provides cross‑country comparisons of non‑tax revenues for the countries in this publication.

This chapter is based on the VAT Digital Toolkit for Africa (hereafter, ‘the Toolkit’), which was jointly produced by the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), the OECD and the World Bank group (OECD/WBG/ATAF, 2023[1]). The Toolkit provides detailed guidance to assist African tax authorities in the design and implementation of robust policies for the application of value added taxes (VAT) to digital trade. It covers the core components of a comprehensive VAT strategy directed at the main types of digital trade and e‑commerce, particularly online sales of services, intangibles, and goods to private consumers by foreign businesses and digital platforms that often have no physical presence in their consumers’ respective jurisdictions. It provides policy advice to support tax authorities’ decision‑making as well as detailed practical guidance and manuals for the legislative design, the administrative implementation, and the enforcement of VAT digital policies in light of jurisdictions’ specific needs and circumstances.

In all of the following tables a (“..”) indicates not available. The main series in this volume covers the years 1990 to 2021.

In all of the following tables a (“..”) indicates not available or not applicable. The main series in this volume covers the years 1995 to 2021.

In all of the following tables a (“..”) indicates not available or not applicable. The main series in this volume covers the years 1995 to 2021.

In the OECD classification, the term “taxes” is confined to compulsory unrequited payments to the general government or to a supranational authority. Taxes are unrequited in the sense that benefits provided by government to taxpayers are not normally in proportion to their payments.

The definition of non‑tax revenues and the main subcategories identified in this publication generally correspond to the concepts laid out in the 2014 IMF Government Finance Statistics Manual (GFSM). Non‑tax revenues refer to increases in government net worth resulting from transactions other than tax revenues. They exclude funds arising from the repayment of previous lending by governments or from borrowing, or proceeds derived from sales of fixed capital assets, stocks, land and intangible assets or private gifts.