Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger impose a new tax on West African trade

The military governments of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger approved the imposition of a new 0.5% tax on imports from countries in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to finance the new bloc of countries that make up the Sahel Alliance. 

With these measures, the Alliance, which was formalised in July 2024, hopes to become a strong economic bloc within the African continent. With the formalisation of their own passport, which replaces previous ECOWAS documents containing information that serves as a security measure, the countries of the Alliance hope to further strengthen their economic and military ties. 

This new tax will only affect imports of all goods from countries that do not belong to the Sahel Alliance, thus ending years of free trade in the western wing of the continent. This new tax will not affect humanitarian aid, diplomatic material and regional products.

In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mali, the Alliance explained that this tax will be used exclusively ‘to finance the activities of the bloc’. The funds will support future integration projects for the establishment of a future Confederal Bank for Investment and Development. Mali's Economy Minister, Alousséni Danou, said that the implementation of this new tax will not affect consumers or food prices.

‘Goods imported from third countries and released for consumption or free circulation in the customs territory of the AES will be subject to the confederal tax in accordance with its current customs regulations,’ the statement said.

The resources may be used for agency expenses, financing of solidarity actions, and any other expenses approved by the AES Ministries of Economy. 

They also indicated that their separation from the Community was due to the fact that they were not receiving enough help to combat terrorism and extremist militants, as Burkina Faso, one of the three countries in the Alliance, tops the Global Terrorism Index list in 2025. 

On the other hand, ECOWAS, which also took similar action against Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, albeit without success, has pointed out that this new tax will create a significant gap between the Sahel Alliance and the countries of West Africa. Despite this, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger continue to be three of the poorest countries in the world. 

The application of this new tax will mainly affect Nigeria, which imported goods worth 290 million dollars from Niger in 2023.