Abuja, 15^th September 2018. After five days of interesting and challenging exchanges, debates and acquisition of new modelling techniques, the Fiscal forecasting and revenue mobilization Workshop came to a close on Friday, 14^th September, 2018 in Abuja, Nigeria.

During the Workshop, participants familiarised themselves with the Quasi–Accounting Modelling system for stimulation, forecasting and impact analysis.

The workshop was organized by the Customs Directorate, of the ECOWAS Commission in collaboration with GIZ and UEMOA. It created a platform for participants to improve their professional skills in revenue mobilization and streamline their various models into a harmonized system by developing their capacities in the Quasi-accounting model for Revenue administrators from Member States, UEMOA as well as the academia.

The Workshop’s program was developed to assist member states maximize the positive effects of regional integration and minimize the negative effects of tax competition in the emerging customs union within the Community.

In his closing ceremony remarks, the Director, Revenue and Tax Policy, Ministry of Finance Sierra Leone, Mr. Idrissa Kanu, who spoke on behalf of all participants, thanked the people and government of Nigeria for the warm hospitality accorded them in the city of Abuja.

He extended the participants’ sincere appreciation to the ECOWAS Commission, for the professionalism displayed throughout the training. He promised that, this is the beginning of great things to happen within the sub-region, because they have learnt a lot which will impact positively in their jobs and communities going forward.

On his part, the Director of Customs Mr, Salifou Tiemtore who represented the ECOWAS Commission’s Commissioner of Trade, Customs and Free Movement Mr. Tèi Konzi, said as ECOWAS conducted a needs assessment of all the Member States in revenue forecasting between December 2016 and March 2017. Four major needs from the assessment were identified as appropriate and relevant.

They are: Quasi accounting model used for macroeconomic forecasting in Member States (TRIST, Budget-Eco etc), Static and dynamic Computable Gen Equilibrium Modelling, Macro econometric modelling for forecasting and impact analysis of economic policies, and T21 modelling for long-term forecasting and simulation.

He said based on this a decision was taken to commence the training with the basic and less complicated forecasting tool which is the Quasi-accounting model. Barring any financial limitation, a train-the –trainers Workshop will be rolled out for the other three models in the future.

“We hope that some of you or your colleagues back home will be able to join us for the future workshops”, he added.

He further stressed the importance of continuous practice and transfer of the knowledge acquired into useful tools, on return of the Participants to their respective stations.

The workshop ended with the presentation of certificates of participation to all participants.