In Senegal, total revenues generated by the extractive sector increased by 42.50 billion CFA francs in 2022 compared to 2021, an increase of 19.7%. This is one of the conclusions of the 2022 report of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Senegal, obtained by APA on Monday.
The document states that, on the basis of data declared by public entities, after reconciliation work, “the total revenues generated by the extractive sector for the year 2022 amount to 275.33 billion CFA francs, of which 242.30 billion CFA francs will be allocated to the State budget.” The funds collected by the Treasury will come exclusively from the hydrocarbons (17.98 billion CFA francs) and mining (224.32 billion francs in 2022) sectors.
The mining sector is in good financial health, with revenues estimated to increase by 32.70 billion CFA francs, from 203.01 billion CFA francs in 2021 to 235.71 billion CFA francs in 2022. Against these increases, the report highlights the “significant decrease” in the flow of “tax adjustments” by 23.6 billion CFA francs, from 24.8 billion CFA francs in 2021 to more than one billion in 2022.
In the case of the hydrocarbons sector, where revenues will increase by 9.8 billion CFA francs, “the increase is mainly explained by an increase in the flow of ‘withholding tax on sums paid to third parties” totalling more than 3 billion CFA francs. These resources come mainly from “amounts paid” by BP Senegal Investments Limited in respect of withholding tax payments to third parties in connection with the Grand-Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) gas project, and from an increase in the flow of “withholding tax on salaries (IR, TRIMF and CFCE)” totalling 2.9 billion CFA francs.
While 88% of the revenues generated by the extractive sector in 2022 will be allocated to the State budget, the remaining revenues will be divided between “the operating account of the national company PETROSEN, the equity of the collection agencies and the funds accruing to UEMOA and ECOWAS, social and environmental expenditure and the mining site rehabilitation fund,” underlines the report prepared by the EnerTeam Group and G&G Professional Services in work carried out between 25 September 2023 and 15 December 2023, in accordance with the terms of reference approved by the National EITI Committee.
In addition, the Rapporteur made a dozen recommendations to the Senegalese authorities aimed at improving the EITI reporting process. These include the implementation of the study on the application of the legal and regulatory framework governing operations and the updating of the manual mining cadastre in preparation for the ongoing project to convert the mining cadastre data into an open data format for the granting, renewal and transfer of mining and petroleum concessions in 2021 and 2022.
The document also recommends implementing the policy and legal framework for the publication of contracts, monitoring the process of beneficial ownership disclosure and integrating legal ownership disclosure, publishing the financial statements and/or key financial documents of public companies, and following up on the recommendations of the Court of Auditors.
The EITI is a voluntary mechanism designed to strengthen good governance of oil, gas and mining revenues in resource-rich countries. It requires the annual publication of EITI reports, including the disclosure of significant government revenues from extractive industries, as well as the disclosure of all significant payments made by oil, gas and mining companies to the government.
Senegal’s first validation culminated on 8 May 2018 in the decision of the International EITI Board (Board), which recognised Senegal as a country that has made satisfactory progress in implementing the EITI Standard.
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