Economy
From The Report: Djibouti 2018
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Building on consecutive years of robust headline growth, Djibouti has been able to leverage its geographic position to specialise in transport and logistics operations. This has brought integration with global commerce routes and an increase in infrastructure investment. However, to create a more reliable mechanism for poverty reduction and job creation, further improvements to the operating environment are needed. Nevertheless, the country is well placed for continued growth over the coming years, which could be aided by a better interconnection between the domestic business sector and the foreign investments reshaping Djibouti’s transport infrastructure network. This chapter contains interviews with Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh, Minister of Economy and Finance; Mohamed Aramis, Minister of Decentralisation; and Ouloufa Ismail Abdo, Director, Djibouti Office of Industrial and Commercial Property.
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Recent decades have seen a downward convergence in corporate tax regimes as advanced, emerging and developing economies moved to grab a bigger slice of the global investment pie. Headline corporate tax rates have fallen by 20 percentage points since the early 1980s. Alongside lower average rates, special tax incentives aimed at capturing investment have emerged, further reducing the effective rates paid by transnational corporations. In the aftermath of the 2007-08 global financial crisis, many countries were compelled to slash spending and raise revenue in order to rein in precipitous budget deficits. Even as tax revenues as a share…