Megaprojects’ taxes grow by 57.9%

Megaprojects in various sectors are continuing to channel more taxes into the state coffers, cementing their strength in the national economy. The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), in its State Budget Execution Report (REO) for January to June, 2021, indicates that megaproject tax payments stood at 15.5 billion meticais in the first half of the current year, a growth of 57.9% in relation to the same period of 2020, in which the state pocketed US$9.8 billion.

The amount registered represents 15% of the total 127.4 billion meticais revenue collected by the government. Within the megaproject category, the highlight is oil exploitation, which in the period under review contributed 7.4 billion meticais, against 4.2 billion meticais in the same period of the previous year.

The energy production sector stood out as the second-largest contributor in the first half of this year, having channelled 5.7 billion meticais to the state coffers, against 3.5 billion meticais in the first semester of 2020. In third place comes the mineral resources exploitation sector, which, in the period under review, channelled 1.7 billion meticais, as against 1.5 billion meticais in the same period of the previous year. Finally, the other (not specified) subsectors channelled, in the last semester, 581.6 million meticais to the tax authorities, as against the 501.5 million registered in the first semester of 2020.