São Tomé and Príncipe Prime Minister says VAT could be country’s “lifebuoy” 

The Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe (STP), Patrice Trovoada, admitted on Monday, 21, that the implementation of the Value Added Tax (VAT) might be “the lifebuoy” in the face of the “quite worrying” situation of revenue collection in the archipelago.

The head of the STP government was speaking on the island of Príncipe at the national campaign launch on the VAT implementation that the authorities are planning for the second half of the year.

“This new tax may appear today as a lifeline, given a very worrying picture regarding revenue, but it has to be seen as a tax that will modernize our economy.”

“Above all, in applying this tax, we must not lose sight of the fact that we must continue to create more wealth and more opportunities in our country,” said Patrice Trovoada.

According to the leader, the introduction of VAT in the country’s fiscal system “is an imposition, is a reality, is something unavoidable today, but it is not, as was said or let it be understood, a demand from our partners.

The Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe argued that the introduction of VAT should be understood as an appropriation by the San Tomeans.

“It is good that it is understood in this way since it took us many months to get to the stage where we are today after many promises made to our international partners, namely the IMF [International Monetary Fund], and that only contributed to discrediting the São Toméan state,” he said, quoted by Lusa.

With information from Forbes