The Gabonese Minister of Economy has announced on July 6 that the amended 2020 finance law has given pride of place to the social upliftment of citizens, in the context of the fight against Covid-19. This has notably resulted in the optimization of the operational capacities of the “Pr Gahouma” laboratory, with a capacity of 10,000 Covid-19 tests per day.
The 2020 reformed Finance Law took into account the response to the Covid-19. In the budgetary allocations allocated to the various ministerial departments, priority was given to social issues. This is what the Minister of the Economy said at a meeting on July 6. “The additional funding aims to fight efficiently against Covid-19, to pay the Covid premium announced by the President of the Republic, but also to intensify the implementation of the reform of the national health system”, Jean-Marie Ogandaga says.
According to the Minister of Economy, the main actions will be geared towards optimizing the operational capacities of the “Pr Gahouma” laboratory, with a capacity of 10,000 Covid-19 tests per day, the creation of test centres on the whole of the territory in order to ensure massive screening, the provision of protective equipment for health personnel, the supply of health structures with drugs as well as the strengthening of intensive care units.
In the same vein, the benefits of social security have been made permanent. In particular with universal health insurance to protect the most vulnerable strata, the care of single mothers, the elderly, widows and orphans. The social momentum of the authorities also affected the productive apparatus during this difficult Covid-19 period.
“The President of the Republic, aware of the difficulties that SMEs could encounter during this difficult period, has decided to set up an emergency business finance window, alongside a tax window that deals with requests for exemptions certain taxes. The windows mentioned are operational, ”said Jean-Marie Ogandaga.
To this system were added, despite the poor economic climate, efforts to honour commitments for domestic debt. “In this context, particular attention will be paid to the clearance of small claims arising from the recent independent audit and for which the agreements are being signed by the parties. Furthermore, in terms of taxation, the finance law contains provisions tending to widen the collection base so that the tax burden is not borne by a reduced number of formal operators, ” the Economy Minister concluded.
