Dr Awa Diouf

Research Fellow

DIGITAX Programme

Awa is a Research Fellow at ICTD and an economist specialising in public finance in developing and transition countries. She holds a doctorate from the Université Clermont Auvergne in France, and the Initiative Prospective Agricole et Rurale (IPAR), a think tank based in Senegal.

Publications

Research in Brief

Tracking and Taxing Cross-Border Digital Transactions: The Case of VAT in Senegal

August 2025
Awa Diouf & Hannelore Niesten
African Tax Administration Paper

Tracking and Taxing Cross-Border Digital Transactions: The Case of VAT in Senegal

August 2025
Awa Diouf & Hannelore Niesten
Research in Brief

Electronic Services and Tax Compliance: Evidence from Medium and Small Businesses in Burkina Faso

October 2024
Jule Kaini Tinta, Mouhamed Zerbo, Fabrizio Santoro, Awa Diouf & Kèrabouro Pale
Working Paper

Electronic Services and Tax Compliance: Evidence from Medium and Small Businesses in Burkina Faso

October 2024
Jule Kaini Tinta, Mouhamed Zerbo, Fabrizio Santoro, Awa Diouf & Kèrabouro Pale
Policy Brief

Taxing Mobile Money in Africa: Risk and Reward

July 2024
Martin Hearson, Philip Mader, Mary Abounabhan, Marco Carreras, Awa Diouf, Adrienne Lees, Hannelore Niesten, Fabrizio Santoro & Christopher Wales
Research in Brief

The Ghana E-Levy: Impact on the Usage of Mobile Money

July 2024
Marco Carreras, Awa Diouf & Hannelore Niesten
See all Related Publications

Blogs

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Warehouse worker hand pointing at inventory statistics on tablet
November 2024|
Blog

The digital transformation of tax administrations: What’s in it for low-income countries?

by Awa Diouf, Caroline Khene & Becky Faith

As governments worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), push towards digital transformation, the platformisation…
July 2024|
Blog

Taxing mobile money: Five critical strategies for policymakers

by Awa Diouf, Hannelore Niesten & Mary Abounabhan

Revenue authorities, policymakers, industry, and researchers met to explore how taxes on mobile money could be effectively and equitably designed….
Screenshot of home page of the digital financial services (DFS) tax map website
July 2023|
Blog

ICTD’s new web portal on taxation of digital financial services in Africa

by Awa Diouf & Hannelore Niesten

Across Africa, the rapid growth of digital financial services (DFS) has led to increased interest in effectively taxing these services. The DFS TaxMap is a dynamic web portal in English and French tracking the diverse approaches to DFS taxation….
Mobile money agent in Zanzibar, Tanzania
April 2023|
Blog

How do taxes affect the price of digital financial services?

by Hannelore Niesten & Awa Diouf

How the interplay between DFS pricing and taxation affects the cost of DFS, and why transparency and competition are crucial for a well-functioning market….
Ghana: A woman carries fruit on her head as she passes a mobile money stand in the Tesano neighborhood.
February 2023|
Blog

The Ghana e-levy: Can the latest rate reduction win greater public acceptance and increase revenue?

by Awa Diouf, Alex Ampaabeng, Mary Abounabhan & Hannelore Niesten

The reduced tax rate on electronic transactions is unlikely to satisfy Ghanaians given the country’s rising inflation…
elderly african woman and young black man using phone and credit card
August 2022|
Blog

Ghana’s new e-levy: The sour, sweet and switches so far

by Fabrizio Santoro, Mary Abounabhan & Awa Diouf

Introduced in May 2022, Ghana’s e-levy is a 1.5 per cent tax on the transfer amount of electronic transactions. The objective is to improve tax revenues by tapping into fast-growing digital financial services (DFS). However, many exemptions are applied to the tax design….

News and events

See all news and events
News
Compilation of book covers
December 2024
ICTD team reading list recommendations for 2024

Throughout the year ICTD team members have been curating monthly reading lists with thought-provoking books covering…
Event
Person using nfc technology to pay the bill at a restaurant.
26 June 2024
Webinar: Tax and Digitalisation in Africa – Lessons for the G20 GovTech Agenda

The global digital public infrastructure (DPI) agenda is substantially informed by experiences from the Global North…
Event
Two men standing in front of a mobile money kiosk in Entebbe, Uganda
6 February 2024
Webinar: Taxing mobile money in Africa: the good, the bad and the ugly

At a time when many African countries are facing strong fiscal pressures, the rapidly growing digital…

Research Projects

Completed Project

The impact of mobile money taxation on financial inclusion: The case of the Kenyan excise duty

Marco Carrerras, Awa Diouf & Fabrizio Santoro
Completed Project

[TAX MAP] Taxation policies and Mobile money usage in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Cross-Country Survey Data

Awa Diouf & Hannelore Niesten
See all Related Projects
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