The Institute of Federalism continued its engagement with the Intergovernmental Fiscal Federalism Technical Committee (IGFFTC) of Somalia on the question of implementing a new fiscal framework for the country.

The International Research and Consulting Centre’s Academic Head, Dr Soeren Keil, met members of the IGFFTC in Kigali, Rwanda in early August 2024 to discuss how to implement previous decisions of the National Consultative Council on fiscal federalism.

The result of these discussions was a policy brief, outlining a way forward to increase domestic revenue collection on the one side, and strengthening the capacity of public administration on the other, to ensure more efficient tax collection, and better implementation of services.

The policy brief, which has already been discussed by the Finance Ministers’ Forum, paves a way forward by focusing on the introduction of a sales tax and developing capacity building plans for the Federal Member States and the Federal Government of Somalia. It will form the basis of wider discussions on fiscal federalism in the near future.

The project “Power-sharing and Fiscal Federalism in Somalia” is jointly implemented with the World Bank in Somalia and funded by the Swiss Development Cooperation.