Speaker Tunis calls on ECOWAS Member States to meet their financial obligations to the Community Institution

Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) should meet their obligations to the Community Institution. The Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Sidie Mohamed Tunis, made this appeal during the opening of the 2022 Second Extraordinary Session of the Community Parliament, on Monday, 3 October 2022, in Lomé, the Togolese capital.

The Speaker, Tunis, recalled that financial contributions from Member States, through the Community levy, constitute the major source of financing for the Community.

He lamented that, “Unfortunately, we are witnessing a low rate of recovery of the Community tax, which has the immediate consequence of reducing the capacity of  the ECOWAS in implementing its projects and programs, reducing the visibility of the Institutions to the citizens of the region, and slowing down the pace of economic integration,”.

To this end, he called on ECOWAS Member States to liquidate “as soon as possible the proceeds of the Community levy and to avoid accumulating arrears, in order to enable the ECOWAS to successfully implement its program of activities”.

The Community levy consists of 0.5% rate imposed on goods from non- ECOWAS Member States and it is the main source of financing for the ECOWAS.

This levy is intended to cover between 70% and 90% of the Community Budget.