The organisational structure of the Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development (MINDDEVEL) provides for a Department of Local Finance, which is responsible for all matters relating to the financing of decentralisation, through studies on the performance and trends of local finance. More specifically, this Department is responsible for monitoring the implementation of State-budget transfers to Decentralised Territorial Collectivities (DTCs), and for overseeing the collection and use of revenue from council taxes.

        The framework law on decentralisation, in its provisions on the transfer of financial resources to DTCs, states that DTCs may be financed either through the transfer of taxation or through grants. The principle governing the decentralisation process is that the financial resources transferred must be at least equivalent to the powers transferred. This is why the Finance Law, each year and on the proposal of the Government, determines the share of State revenue allocated to the General Decentralisation Grant (DGD), intended to partly finance councils. For the 2019 financial year, this grant was set at nine billion, six hundred and ninety-four million CFA francs (CFAF 9,694,000,000). As it cannot cover all DTC expenditure, it constitutes Government support for decentralisation. However, where a DTC’s financial resources are insufficient, the State may, in order to avoid compromising the performance of public-service missions, award a special grant to the DTC concerned.

         Furthermore, Book Three of the General Tax Code covers all compulsory levies mobilised to finance Decentralised Territorial Collectivities. These taxes are of two types. First, there are levies collected by the tax services of the Directorate General of Taxation (DGI) and by Customs, which are paid into the Public Treasury in accordance with the principle of the unity of State funds. Part of this revenue is subsequently transferred to councils.

          Second, there is a category of taxes subject to equalisation and consequently paid into the Special Council Support Fund for Mutual Assistance (FEICOM), which in turn redistributes the funds to councils. This mechanism for redistributing resources through FEICOM contributes to solidarity and equity among councils. It should also be noted that there is a category of taxes which each council collects directly within its area of jurisdiction and uses without paying them into State coffers.

          It should further be noted that the framework law on decentralisation provides that Decentralised Territorial Collectivities may hold equity interests in private companies (Sections 62–65 of Law No. 2004/017). Such participation by a DTC, or by a grouping of DTCs, may not exceed 33% of the share capital of the company or body concerned. DTCs may also establish public administrative establishments and local public-capital companies. These entities may generate profits, which are paid into council coffers.