Kenya

Loss-making companies to pay as State renews push for minimum tax

The William Ruto administration has set sights on a share of revenue from loss-making companies after signalling a revival of minimum tax that was declared unconstitutional under the predecessor regime of Uhuru Kenyatta.

The courts shot down a previous plan to ensure each company pays at least a percentage of gross revenue to the Kenya Revenue Authority Revenue on the grounds that the move was based on a wrong assumption that all loss-making firms were evading taxes.

The Court of Appeal ruled that forcing all companies to pay a percentage of their gross sales as opposed to profit to the taxman was contrary to Article 201 of the Constitution on fair distribution of taxation burden.

And now the Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u says the Ruto administration will seek to re-introduce the minimum tax from the next financial year in July 2024. Prof Ndung’u says the KRA will “redesign the minimum tax taking into account the issues raised by the Court on previous minimum tax” in a renewed bid to ensure “fairness” in taxation of income.

(Business Daily)

Tanzania

French firm takes over operations of Malindi Port next Monday

A French firm, African Global Logistics (AGL), will officially start managing operations of Malindi Port on Monday. This followed the signing of agreement between Zanzibar government through its Ministry of Infrastructure, Communication and Transport and AGL in May to manage operations at Malindi seaport.

The Director General of Zanzibar Ports Corporation (ZPC), Mr Nahaat Mohamed Mahfoudh, said here Wednesday that preparations were at advanced stage for the handover of activities at the port, the main entry point handling international trade for the Indian Ocean archipelago of Zanzibar.

AGL, a multimodal logistics operator, would manage Zanzibar’s main seaport at Malindi, he said noting that other small ports will remain under ZPC. “It is a five-year agreement with AGL. The seaport has not been sold, the government just wants efficiency, and improved services at the Malindi Port. We hope to reduce ship dwelling time, speed up clearance of containers, and improve revenue collection,” said Mr Mahfoudh.

(The Daily News)

Uganda

Airtel, URA dispute over social media tax declarations

Airtel has disputed a claim in which the Uganda Revenue Authority had assessed the telecom as having underdeclared over-the-top (OTP) tax returns paid by social media users between July 2019 and June 2021. The matter is currently before the Tax Appeals Tribunal awaiting hearing and determination.

(The Monitor)

Ethiopia

Alternative ports to Ethiopia foster economic integration in the region: President of Ethiopian Institute of Public Diplomacy

The contractual agreements which Ethiopia enters with neighboring countries for alternative ports will allow economic integration between African countries, President of the Ethiopian Institute for Public Diplomacy in Sweden, Yasin Ahmed said.

In an exclusive interview with the Ethiopian News Agency, Yasin explained that Ethiopia is not the only landlocked country in Africa, but there are some landlocked African countries which have gone through agreements with countries bordering seas.

“Ethiopia is not the only landlocked country in the world. There is Rwanda that contracted with Kenya to benefit from its port, as well as Mali, which used agreements with Senegal, “he said. He stressed that Ethiopia should make necessary long-term contractual agreements with several ports in the region and develop them for the sake of common interests with countries that have ports.

(ENA)

Sudan

Central Bank of Sudan to return to Siraj payments system

The Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS) has announced that it will return to working via the Total Instant Settlements System (Siraj), making the system available to all banks and dealers with the banking system effective today.

In June, the CBoS established an emergency room for the management of banking procedures as part of measures to tackle the disruptions in banking services caused by the ongoing war. At the time, the CBoS acknowledged the impact of the fighting, vandalism, and war-related issues on banks, including electricity outages and communication issues.

The Siraj Total Instant Settlements System is facilitated by a private joint stock company based in Abu Dhabi and regulated by the UAE Central Bank, that provides financial products designed in compliance with Islamic Shariah principles.

As reported by Radio Dabanga last week, the exchange rate of the US dollar against the Sudanese pound recorded a significant increase following a rise in the demand last week – while a sharp decrease in exports since war broke out in the country on April 15 has further led to a shortage of hard currencies. The dollar rate in the parallel market rose to SDG700 while it reached an average of SDG618 at the banks in the country.

(Dabanga)