Market News

• New taxes slapped on mobile-phone calls and mobile-money
• Nation needs to replenish resources for security and energy

Mali has introduced taxes on mobile voice calls and mobile-money withdrawals to support its fight against an Islamic insurgency that’s threatening to take over part of the country.

Customer recharge for calls will incur a tax of 10% while withdrawals from mobile-money wallet will be hit with a 1% levy, Minister of Economy and Finance Alousseni Sanou told reporters in the capital, Bamako. The new taxes together with other revenue measures are expected to raise roughly 140 billion CFA francs ($220 million) to finance security and energy, Sanou said.

Mali has been under military rule since 2020, when General Assimi Goita ousted the West African nation’s elected president, citing the previous regime’s failure to repel Islamist insurgents. The coup has failed to halt a surge in militant attacks on the Sahelian state, which broke security ties with Western allies such as US and France and drew closer to Russia.

More than 30 people were killed in the country’s northeast last Friday after armed assailants ambushed their convoy and its army escort, Agence France-Presse reported. In September Bamako suffered its worst terrorist attack since a raid on an upmarket hotel in the city in 2015.

“If there’s one thing we want during this transition, it’s to ensure our security and sovereignty,” Prime Minister General Abdoulaye Maiga said on Monday. “Since 2020, Mali no longer benefits from budget support from partners, which was over 400 billion CFA francs.”

A tax on the revenue of wireless operators was also increased to 10% from 8%, Sanou said, adding that charges on the sales of alcoholic beverages were also reviewed, without providing details.

Orange SA, Sotelma Malitel and Telecel Mali are some of the mobile-phone companies operating in the country.

The junta’s move to take more from the telecommunications sector follows recent demands of millions of dollars from foreign mining companies in back taxes and dividends after a state audit revealed a shortfall of as much as 600 billion CFA francs in government revenue. Africa’s second-biggest gold producer also adopted a new mining code in 2023 to increase its benefits from natural resources.