Côte d’Ivoire : a grant to finance pharmaceutical industry
The 10th edition of the Ivorian Pharmacists' Days did not focus on medicinal aspects, but on the problem of financing the pharmaceutical industry in Côte d'Ivoire, with a dialogue of the deaf between economic operators and the state.
By Issiaka N’guessan in Abidjan
Côte d’Ivoire’s pharmacists want to contribute to the country’s current economic dynamism. The country is undergoing a major structural transformation. Highways, roads, public universities, services… Côte d’Ivoire is making progress, but unfortunately only 19% of taxpayers pay 80% of tax revenues. This 19% includes the pharmaceutical sector. This is why the players in the sector wanted to speak directly to the Directorate-General of Taxes to explain the tax burden on their activities.
Digitalization and the stock market, prescriptions
The DGI representative at this 10th edition of the Journées du Conseil de l’Ordre des pharmaciens de Côte d’Ivoire, Mr. Bénié, considered that « digitalization is a means of broadening the tax base ». However, an offer from EDC-ACCES MANAGEMENT (a subsidiary of the ECOBank group) puts the emphasis on the stock market for the benefit of pharmacists and even the general public. With a savings product that works like a traditional savings account, a diversified fund that is a mix of stocks and bonds, and a stock fund, the promoters explain that pharmacists can open an account as a legal entity or give their money away to have their savings grow at a rate of 5% or more. This meeting to discuss the financing of the pharmaceutical business was a very good opportunity to encourage these operators in the health sector to appropriate this new financing tool via the stock market. For their part, pharmacists are asking for special treatment.
A special tax system
Among the panelists on October 7, the last day of this meeting of Ivorian pharmacists, who had invited their counterparts from Cameroon, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali, was Ouattara Aboubacar, director of Ficoges, a consultancy firm and member of the Confédération Générale des Entreprises de Côte d’Ivoire (CGECI). He believes that, given the specific nature of the pharmaceutical sector, « we need to put in place a special tax system to prevent the illicit trafficking of medicines, which is common in the WAEMU region and has security implications ». It is, he said, « 20 times more profitable than drug trafficking ». In the same vein, Eugène Koffi, director of a drug production laboratory, believes that « it is more important to import the drug than to be installed » in Côte d’Ivoire. « We are surprised that after 20 years we don’t have a pharmaceutical industry, » he says. « Only taxation can help us produce better. Fiscal and parafiscal pressure is high, » says Eugène Koffi. He claims that 90% of the medicines sold in Côte d’Ivoire come from outside the country, which shows that « 60 years after independence, it is difficult to create a local pharmaceutical industry ». Dr Arouna Diarra, President of the Côte d’Ivoire Order of Pharmacists, was blunter: « We need sincere fiscal support, we need to go further in terms of tax exemption ».
Taxation, « a crucial issue”
Dr Ouattara Kanigui, on behalf of the Union nationale des pharmaciens de Côte d’Ivoire, believes that fiscal pressure is « crucial ». The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the endogenous weaknesses of the system. According to Professor Bamori Dembélé, the biology sector is « suffering », despite « a growing demand for laboratories that would like to set up, but there is the problem of taxation ». He went on to explain that the 2021 tax plan includes a « reform of SMEs » with two objectives: to help taxpayers understand the tax system and to reduce the tax burden. In the end, we saw an increase in tax pressure, with a 93% increase in tax payments for all companies in the country. Dr Brou Arsène, President of the Federation of Ivorian SMEs, threatens: « This time we’re not going to let the 2024 tax plan slide. We’re tired, we need to broaden the tax base, the pharmacists can’t take it anymore. According to Dr Yacine Fofana, this tax burden prevents investment in scientific research, which leads to strong industrialization as in developed countries.
594 billion FCFA to be collected…
Aboubacar Ouattara, who took part in two government seminars during which the Ivorian employers’ association had the opportunity to present its expectations regarding taxation, said the first project is scheduled for 2014 and the second for 2022.
« For the end of 2024, the Employers’ Confederation has sent the government three main points, including the issue of tax inspections, which must be carried out in a courteous manner, good governance through the efficient and effective use of revenues generated by the private sector, and the broadening of the tax base, » he explained. « 2024 will be much more difficult than 2023 for any pharmacist, because the state has signed an economic and financial program with donors and has committed itself to increasing tax revenues by FCFA 594 billion. The pressure will be great because the budget will increase from 12,000 to 13,000 billion. In the absence of an expressed desire to broaden the tax base, every Ivorian taxpayer will have to pay … a little more in taxes.
