LoGRI Contributes to Property Taxation Seminar in Libreville, Gabon

From December 3-4, LoGRI participated in a two-day seminar on property taxation in Libreville, Gabon organized by the World Bank in coordination with the Direction Générale des Impôts du Gabon (DGI).

Themed “A Comparative Look at Property Taxation: Challenges and Perspectives”, the event brought together about 40 representatives from Gabonese government agencies including the DGI and from property tax administrations from across Africa. Discussions focused on persistent challenges in property taxation, innovative reform mechanisms, and future perspectives for strengthening property taxation, with the goal of developing an actionable reform roadmap for Gabon.

Driving Dialogue Through Peer-Learning

LoGRI staff including Colette Nyirakamana, Camille Barras and Adèle Somat played an active role in providing technical expertise for the organization and delivery of the workshop, in collaboration with Professor Nara Monkam. During the event, Colette Nyirakamana and Adèle Somat led in-depth sessions on property identification and mapping, valuation and rate setting, compliance and enforcement, digitalization and inter-institutional collaboration, drawing on comparative research and LoGRI’s practical experience. Building on her operational experience in Sierra Leone, LoGRI’s Country Team Lead Rosetta Wilson shared practical insights on tax compliance and enforcement and moderated a panel on inter-institutional collaboration.

LoGRI’s contributions were also complemented by expertise and comparative experiences shared by external participants from Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, The Gambia, Benin, the Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, and Rwanda.

Next Steps Toward Reform in Gabon

After the conclusion of the seminar, Professor Nara Monkam and LoGRI held follow-up meetings with key actors in the property tax chain to clarify key challenges and emergent priorities identified during the seminar. Insights from across these conversations will feed into the development of a structured roadmap for potential reforms in Gabon.