Burkina Faso wants to create a support fund for the war effort

One of the objectives of the fund desired by Burkina Faso is to finance the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland.

Here, during a recruitment for this group, on November 16, 2022, in Ouagadougou.

© Olympia De Maismont / AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

In Burkina Faso, the government announced Friday, December 9 the establishment of a support fund for the war effort, following a meeting between the president of the transition, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, and the social partners, in particular trade unions and Burkinabè employers.

The objective of this fund is to raise approximately 100 billion CFA francs, in particular to pay and equip the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP).

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According to the Minister of the Economy Aboubacar Nacanabo,

the pay of the VDPs

and their equipment require funding estimated at 106 billion CFA francs.

An envelope that does not appear in the 2023 draft budget, already in deficit of 600 billion CFA francs.

President Ibrahim Traoré therefore intends to ask for an effort of solidarity from the Burkinabè.

The Trade Union Action Unit, the National Council of Burkinabè Employers and all the coordination of trade unions from the various ministries were present.

Several sources of funding were presented to them: a

voluntary

contribution from Burkinabe citizens, a 1% levy on the net salary of public and private workers, but also levies on the taxes of certain consumer products such as alcohol. , tobacco, internet, cosmetics and even perfumery.

The government is also counting on the contribution of certain companies, such as the Electronic Communications and Postal Regulatory Authority, the national lottery or the local development mining fund.

With these contributions, the government hopes to raise 80 billion CFA francs and for the rest, “ 

efforts will be made at the level of the state budget

 ”.

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  • Burkina Faso

  • Defense