Rabat, 14 November 2025 (ECA) – The ECA Office for North Africa concluded on Friday 13 November the 40th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of High Officials and Experts (ICSOE) on “Enhancing domestic resource mobilization through innovation and technology in North Africa”.
The meeting, which included an expert meeting on “Enhancing Domestic Resource Mobilization through Digital Technologies in North Africa,” agreed on several recommendations for both member countries (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.
Key recommendations for member countries included:
- Developing resilient fiscal systems, enhancing public financial management, budget transparency and data accuracy including through the digitization of public financial management and tax administration to enhance efficiency, transparency, and compliance.
- Improving data quality and creating the digital environment and infrastructure required for digital content and data sharing in support to domestic resource management.
- Improving migration management and leveraging remittances and diaspora contributions to support sustainable development, while encouraging expatriates to invest their savings in their home countries.
- Prioritizing national technologies and innovation infrastructures and developing national capacities so countries can adapt technologies to their unique contexts, foster homegrown innovation, and strengthen resilience.
- Strengthening digital trust and fiscal transparency by enhancing the integration between data protection and public financial governance to ensure secure, transparent, and citizen-centric public systems.
Key recommendations for ECA included
- Maintaining its support to Member States in strengthening domestic resource mobilization and helping them develop integrated strategies for sustainable finance and development, to enhance their capacity to mobilize resources, including climate finance.
- Leveraging innovative digital technologies in support to the mobilization of domestic resources, and assisting member states in creating the digital environment required for enhanced data quality and data sharing; and in this regard increase the ECA office for North Africa capacities in the field of artificial intelligence.
- Continuing its support to Member States through programs that enhance the capacities of entrepreneurs and public institutions in aspects such as governance, access to finance, particularly green finance, digitalization, and the use of modern technologies.
- Supporting calls by African countries to reform the global financial system so the continent can have a greater representation in the decision-making bodies of international financial institutions and for increased access to the resources needed to achieve achieving sustainable development.
Domestic resource mobilization is essential for strengthening fiscal sovereignty and securing sustainable development financing. Public expenditure and investment play a central role in long-term growth by supporting education, health and infrastructure. A robust domestic revenue base also enhances macroeconomic stability, strengthens policy credibility, and expands the fiscal space needed for coherent long-term planning
North African governments can lessen their dependence on external aid, foreign investment, and sovereign borrowing by strengthening domestic resource mobilization through more effective taxation, higher savings mobilisation, and improved financial governance
Currently, despite overall notable progress over the past years, Domestic resource mobilization in North Africa has provided mixed results. In 2022, Tax-to-GDP ratios in the subregion ranged from 24.69% in Tunisia — i.e. one of the highest in Africa, to below the 16% African average and the 25–30% OECD benchmark in Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Libya, and Sudan.
The informal sector, which absorb more than 40% of total employment in most North African countries, further impacts national tax bases and tax compliance.
Improving domestic resource mobilisation is presently even more important since, according to ECA estimates, climate change is threatening to decrease North Africa’s GDP per capita by at least 11% in the next 5 years for a +1°C increase in global temperatures (and a decrease by 5% for a +1°c increase in local temperatures), further impacting national economies and fiscal spaces, and increasing the cost of adaptation and resilience.
Indeed, now that the world is expected to get past the 1.5°C temperature limit agreed within the framework of the Paris agreement in the next four years (by 2029), the physical and economic impact of climate change is likely to increase further. This makes adaptation even more urgent, despite the significant investments involved. By acting early, North African countries—most of which have reached middle-income status—can reduce the risk of falling into a trap of low productivity and widening inequality.
The ICSOE 2025 meeting recommendations will be submitted to the 58th Session of the Economic Commission for Africa in 2026 (COM2026) scheduled in Morocco in the first quarter of 2026 under the theme: “Growth through innovation: harnessing data and frontier technologies for the economic transformation of Africa.”
NOTE TO EDITORS:
RECORDINGS: Access the meeting recordings from 11 and 12 November on the UNECA YouTube! channel
Day 1, ICSOE 2025 on Enhancing domestic resource mobilization through innovation and technology in North Africa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7KbWsaMMDk
Day 2, Expert group meeting on Enhancing Domestic Resource Mobilization through Digital Technologies in North Africa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORwy_2m6jpg
DOCUMENTS: Click here to download the meeting documents in English, Arabic and French https://www.uneca.org/eca-events/intergovernmental-committee-senior-offi...
PHOTOS: Download free, high-resolution photos of the meetings from the UNECA Flickr account here https://www.flickr.com/photos/uneca/albums.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: For more information about this meeting, and for your interview requests, please send an email to filali-ansary@un.org.