VenturesNow

Rwanda to impose tax on Netflix

Published

3 years ago

March 12, 2022

Rwanda is the latest African country to announce plans to tax online services consumed within the country.

This comes a few months after Zimbabwe and Nigeria laid out plans for the collection of taxes from e-commerce and digital companies such as Netflix, Google, YouTube, and Amazon.

According to the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), a proposal has been presented before the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning from where it will undergo several procedures before implementation if approved.

“When you pay for services such as Netflix, you are using money that you have generated in Rwanda. So, we are asking, why don’t we collect VAT on these services yet they are being paid for by our citizens? If you pay 12 dollars a month for Netflix, why don’t we keep some of that amount at the source here?” Jean-Louis Kaliningondo, the Deputy Commissioner General of RRA said.

A number of African countries have expanded the scope of their indirect taxes to cover digital services, but only a few have so far implemented some form of direct digital services tax.

He noted that one of the big principles about VAT is that it is paid to the country where the service is being consumed.

“If you go to Western countries, for example, France, you find that Amazon pays VAT yet it is not a French company. European countries are collecting VAT on services provided by foreign platforms, he added.

African governments still face a lot of criticisms on their intentions to tax digital/online services. A recent case is the unending controversial E-levy which has caused a lot of confusion in the country.

South Africa already taxes cryptocurrency trade and investment and is making plans to tax companies such as Netflix.

VenturesNow

3 years after, Nigeria’s Belemaoil restarts Oil Lease 55

Published

4 hours ago

October 15, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Following a three-year hiatus due to theft-related damage to the plant, Nigerian independent producer, Belemaoil Producing, has reopened operations at its oil block on Oil Mining Lease 55, the company announced on Monday.

In February 2015, Belemaoil purchased OML 55 from Chevron Corp. OML 55 is situated in a marsh to shallow water area, approximately 40 kilometres west of the Bonny oil export facility.

According to a statement by a Belemaoil representative, widespread oil theft from OML 55’s delivery line to the Bonny terminal forced the closure of the facility in 2021.

The block has five oilfields, which provide more than 70 million standard cubic feet of petrol per day and around 14,000 barrels per day, according to the business.

An official stated that the first floating oil storage vessel arrived at OML 55 on October 6th, signalling “a major milestone in the company’s efforts to restart production”.

Nigeria, the largest oil producer in Africa, is attempting to increase its crude production, which has decreased recently as a result of widespread theft and sabotage, which drove oil majors to abandon onshore drilling in favour of deepwater production.

VenturesNow

Kenya permits JPMorgan Chase to open representative office

Published

5 hours ago

October 15, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The central bank of Kenya announced on Monday that JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) had been permitted to create a new tab and open a representative office in the East African nation.

According to a statement from the Central Bank of Kenya, representative offices of foreign banks in Kenya act as hubs for marketing and communication for their parent banks and affiliates.

The announcement further stated that the JPMorgan Chase representative office will help to diversify Kenya’s banking industry and encourage trade and investment.

In an effort by the largest United States lender to grow on the continent, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, is scheduled to visit Africa in mid-October, according to a report published by Reuters last month, which cited four people with knowledge of the situation.

Within the next three years, the bank intends to renovate 1,700 existing branches and open 500 new ones. According to J.P. Morgan’s most recent financial report, as of the end of the second quarter of 2024, the bank had 4,884 branches.