Revenue Statistics in Africa 2025

Despite significant heterogeneity across countries, Africa faced a challenging macroeconomic context in 2023 characterised by a slowdown in economic growth, high inflation, declines in global oil, gas and minerals prices, and higher debt service costs. Against this backdrop, tax revenues as a percentage of GDP increased in 24 countries, decreased in 13 and were unchanged in one between 2022 and 2023. However, the average tax-to-GDP ratio (total tax revenues including social security contributions as a percentage of GDP) for the 38 countries in this publication remained below the average levels in Asia and the Pacific (19.6%), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC, 21.3%), and OECD countries (33.9%).

Chad, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea recorded the largest increases in their tax-to-GDP ratio (of 3.4 p.p., 4.9 p.p. and 4.5 p.p., respectively) in 2023, driven by increases in CIT revenues resulting from high profits from the extractive sector. In both Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, nominal tax revenues increased while nominal GDP declined over the period. By contrast, the largest decline in the tax-to-GDP ratio occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and was due to a fall in CIT revenues, which had peaked at 5.6% of GDP in 2022.

Higher CIT revenues drove the average increase in tax revenues for the second consecutive year across the 38 countries, rising by 0.3 p.p. in 2023. Revenues from taxes on goods and services rose by 0.1% of GDP on average over the period, driven by an increase in revenues from value added taxes (VAT) of the same magnitude.

Tax-to-GDP ratios have risen in many African countries over the last ten years, reflecting ongoing efforts to enhance fiscal systems. Between 2013 and 2023, the Africa average tax-to-GDP ratio rose by 1.4 p.p. while the averages for the LAC region and OECD countries increased by 0.8 p.p. and 1.3 p.p., respectively. Tax-to-GDP ratios rose in 29 of the 38 African countries between 2013 and 2023 and declined in nine.

Revenues from all the main tax categories increased as a percentage of GDP by approximately the same amount between 2013 and 2023. Both income tax revenues and revenues from taxes on goods and services increased by 0.6 p.p. Taxes on goods and services remained the main source of tax revenues in Africa, accounting for an average of 51.2% of total tax revenues in 2023, with VAT accounting for 26.6% of total taxation. Meanwhile, taxes on income and profits accounted for 40% of total tax revenues on average in 2023: 16.5% from personal income tax (PIT) and 21.4% from CIT.

Non-tax revenues in Africa in 2023 amounted to 5.9% of GDP on average among the 37 reporting countries, ranging from 0.5% of GDP in The Gambia to 33.8% of GDP in Lesotho. They exceeded 10% of GDP in six countries, four of which (Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia) received most of their non-tax revenues from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Common Revenue Pool. Non-tax revenues were higher than tax revenues in Botswana, the Republic of the Congo, Lesotho and Somalia. The average sum of total tax and non-tax revenues for African countries was 21.9% of GDP in 2023 and ranged from 8.4% of GDP in Somalia to 56.5% of GDP in Lesotho.

Average non-tax revenues in Africa were unchanged as a share of GDP in 2023 relative to the previous year. An increase of 0.6 p.p. in miscellaneous non-tax revenues (mostly in SACU revenues) was offset by a decline in property income (mainly rents and royalties) amid declining commodity prices: average property income fell by 0.6 p.p. to 2.4% of GDP in 2023. Grants declined by 0.1 p.p. in 2023. The largest decreases in non-tax revenues as a share of GDP occurred in the Republic of the Congo and Equatorial Guinea (7.5 p.p. and 9.6 p.p., respectively).

Sources of non-tax revenues varied by country in 2023. Most non-tax revenues came from grants for eight countries whereas they came from rents and royalties for seven countries. The remaining 18 countries, excluding the four net recipient SACU countries, relied more on other sources of non-tax revenues, such as interest and dividends and sales for goods and services.

Average non-tax revenues decreased by 1.2 p.p. of GDP between 2013 and 2023 (mostly due to declines of 0.7 p.p. in grant revenues and of 0.5 p.p. in property income) but have remained stable as a share of GDP since 2017. The decline between 2013 and 2023 has offset almost entirely the increase in tax revenues over the same period, underscoring the financing challenges African countries continue to face.

The special feature examines commonalities and specificities across revenue classifications in African countries included in this report and analyses how these classifications compare to the OECD classification on which Revenue Statistics in Africa is based. It finds that the granularity of revenue data varies significantly across African countries and over time. Several revenue categories, including within income taxes and taxes on goods and services, are common to most African countries. However, some distinctions within revenue categories are common in Africa but do not exist in the OECD classification while some divisions found in the OECD classification tend not to be included in African revenue categories. Extractive-related revenues are not systematically identified in national reporting and information gaps remain (mainly in CIT, PIT and VAT). These findings provide an initial framework for the development of an African revenue classification, an objective aligned with STATAFRIC’s broader strategy to harmonise statistics across the continent.