About the ATAF Databank
ATAF databank is a synopsis of the one of the ATAF’s online data platform
called the African Tax Outlook (ATO) data portal which displays and describes
tax administrative, customs, and macroeconomic data of a wide array of African
countries. This data is used every year to produce the annual editions of the
ATO publication and related research papers.
The ATO data portal launched on 22 November 2017, provides ATAF members
and non-members with the unique opportunity to collect a harmonized set of
national-level information and data on tax and customs administration. This
data portal aims to improve the comparability, analysis, consistency, quality
and accessibility of revenue data for participating countries in Africa. The
ATO data platform is a tool that not only allows participating tax
administrations to simplify the collection of their tax statistics but also
gives them an opportunity to conduct their own analysis with the view to
improving their efficiency and effectiveness.
Tax administrations in Africa generate considerable bodies of data that
stem from all variety of tax accounts and returns in all categories of taxes
and duties. Yet such data are under-collected and underutilized. The ATAF databank collects these statistics and provides in-depth analysis to improve
comparability, analysis, quality and accessibility of revenue data for Africa.
Indeed, without them there can be neither efficient policy nor sustainable
reforms. In addition, producing authentic and reliable empirical data and
statistics will strongly contribute towards enhancing the credibility and
visibility of ATAF and its members, thus strengthening the Secretariat position
and legitimacy, and firmly establishing ATAF among others as a Research Centre
on tax matters in Africa.
This databank provides annual information which is updated every year.
For comparison purposes, all monetary related data are displayed by using the
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) currency in US dollars. The PPP is defined, and
its source explained. When exporting the ATO data or information from the ATAF databank – ATAF as a referencing source should always be mentioned.
The ATAF databank presents, assesses and compares ATO participating
countries against indicators in the following broad categories (themes): tax
bases, tax structure, revenue performance, and tax and Customs administration.
These indicators are crucial to African tax authorities as they implement
reforms and policies to broaden the tax base, narrow tax gaps, simplify and
improve fairness in tax systems, enhance overall voluntary compliance, and keep
policy makers informed on tax matters.
ATO Participating Countries
The ATAF databank covers data
from 2010 to 2021 calendar year for an expected number of 37 African countries.
The steady growth in the number
of participating members underlines the fact that African countries realized
the need of building strong, effective, and efficient tax systems and as such
require reliable statistics to come up with sustainable policy and
administrative decisions.
In 2016, ATAF launched the first ATO publication with 15 countries. Currently, the 2022 edition was released and included these countries: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina-Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, DR Congo, Eswatini, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Sierra-Leone, Tanzania, The Gambia, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The following countries are expected to join the ATO project next year: Congo, Guinea, Mauritania, South Sudan and Sudan.
How to use the ATAF Databank
- How to use the interactive data?
Step 1: Select one indicator on top right – the ATAF databank includes a group of 38 indicators for 35 African countries. On quadrant 1, the African map tweaks after your first selection to reflect the selected indicator.
Step 2: Toggle your cursor in the map to see your selected indicator. Select your required year from the bar that appears below the map.
Step 3: Select one or more countries from quadrant 2 – Selected indicator appears in quadrants 3 and 4. Selected countries can be removed from quadrants 3 and 4.
Step 4: Download and or export the produced chart or graph of indicators.
- How to access the infographics?
Each graphic has the source which lead to the ATO edition.
- How to export freely available data on Data and Resources?
Step 1: Choose country: Select one, more or all countries on the list.
Step 2: Choose year: Select the year or all the years.
Step 3: Choose Indicators: Select one or more indicators and click the export button. - How to access ATAF data available upon request