Adesun Kehinde 
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says narrow tax bases, limited enforcement capacity, and widespread informality are structural challenges that keep the Domestic Revenue Mobilization (DRM) below the former target and exhibit significant disparities across West African countries despite improvement over the past two decades
IMF added that DRM is essential for financing economic and social development and ensuring debt sustainability in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), particularly in light of rising interest rates, high security spending, and the prospective reduction in foreign aid.
In a new report on DMR financing, IMF stressed that strengthening tax policy and revenue administration (by streamlining tax systems, rationalizing exemptions, and improving compliance), supported by enhanced regional oversight and cooperation, was critical to ensuring sustainable revenue mobilization.
According to the report, despite stronger revenue growth over the last two decades than most peers (especially in taxes), the WAEMU region lags behind its peers in 2022 revenues
The WAEMU region has made significant progress in DRM, but the pace of reforms remains insufficient to achieve the regional tax revenue objective (20% of GDP) shortly.
Regarding the Progress on revenue administration, Recent improvements include: strengthened fundamentals (registers of large and medium-sized taxpayers made reliable; implemented central administration structure; introduced prerequisites for results-based management and risk analysis); and digital tools implemented (electronic declaration, telepayment, automated invoicing program).
In tax administration, the number of taxpayers filing regular returns increased significantly, VAT return ratios also improved as well as the number of geolocated taxpayers.
Likewise customs administration functions such as valuation and post-clearance audit practices or the risk-based clearance procedure have also seen substantial positive changes.
Also, on areas of advancement, the DRM to Transition from reliance on international trade taxes to domestic revenue sources, eliminate small, low-yield taxes with high administrative costs, limit tax exemptions and preferential regimes.
