(Premium article offered) In Guinea, a rather curious provision of an order signed by the Minister of the Budget, Ismaël Djoubaté, worries investors. Indeed, decree A / 2021/816 / MB / CAB / SGG of April 27, 2021 applying the provisions of article 16 of the 2021 Finance Law cancels all tax and customs exemptions granted by agreements not ratified by the National Assembly as well as the Exemption Decrees. This in a context of fundraising after the presidential elections of October 2020 and the disbursements made to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The decree and its retroactive effect are of particular concern to the private sector in that it sets the Guinean investment code back several steps. The publication of the provision was followed by a press release a few days later asking all companies that have signed agreements with the State and that have not yet been ratified by the National Assembly, to do well. want to send them to the Ministry of Budget no later than Wednesday May 12, 2021 by … a “gmail” address. The said press release specifies that the filing of these documents will be followed by an “examination of the compliance of tax and customs clauses” with the laws and regulations governing investments in the Republic of Guinea. Without clarification on the modalities of this review, it is feared that the ministry will proceed on a case-by-case basis, that is to say, at the head of the client.
