Madar (Nouakchott) - Tax exemptions and other tax breaks cost the Mauritanian state budget 17.634 billion MRU in 2025, equivalent to 3.73% of GDP, 16.67% of total budget revenue and a quarter of tax revenue (25.48%), according to the 2025 tax expenditure report annexed to the initial 2027 finance bill, published on the Ministry of Finance website on Sunday 8 November 2026.
The report lists 1,046 derogatory measures drawn from 16 different legal sources, most of them (594) in the General Tax Code. It notes that "a significant share" of exemptions were introduced by regulatory acts, "underlining an important role for the executive in a field that normally belongs to the legislature".
In all, 952 of these measures, or 97%, are full exemptions, which the report says reflects "weak targeting" of tax incentives. The sectors most concerned are food products, medicines, mining and industry, and hydrocarbons. Households are targeted by 43.9% of the measures and private companies by 40.8%, followed by public enterprises, associations and international organisations.
Consumption taxes such as VAT, customs duties, the statistical levy and excise duties account for 92% of the revenue lost, and taxes collected at the border for nearly 78% of the tax expenditure assessed. Customs duties alone make up 42.7% of the total cost.
Over the past five years, tax expenditure went from 10.5 billion MRU in 2021 to 15.9 billion in 2022, fell to 10.7 billion in 2023, then rose to 17.618 billion in 2024 and stabilised at 17.634 billion in 2025. The report attributes the increase mainly to a wider assessment scope and improved calculation methods rather than to new exemptions.
The assessment remains partial, covering only 9 taxes and duties because of insufficient statistical data. The report, the third produced by the Tax Policy Unit since its creation, calls for "a strategic review of exemptions" to improve their targeting, economic and social effectiveness and tax fairness.
It recommends making declarations compulsory for exempt tax bases across all taxes, strictly enforcing the Finance Minister's circular issued under Article 12 of the organic law on finance laws on introducing new derogatory measures, and strengthening coordination between the Finance Ministry and the departments concerned.
