Technical Efficiency of Customs Offices and Financial Performance of DGDA Katanga

Abstract

For more than a decade, Congolese customs has undergone several reforms, the most obvious manifestations of which were in 2010 and 2018, respectively with the establishment of the customs code and the New Excise Code by ordinance-laws no. 10/002 of August 20, 2010 and n°18/002 of March 13, 2018. Indeed, the General Directorate of Customs and Excise, acronym DGDA, as the financial authority of the State, was created by Decree No. 09/43 of December 3, 2009 to carry out several missions, including fiscal, economic and safe. To carry out all these missions, the DGDA, following the requirements of the government based on the budget voted in parliament, sets assignments to allow the government to have the means for its policy based on the mobilization of revenue. To achieve these objectives, the DGDA, which includes several provincial directorates, has created revenue mobilization units called “customs offices” since 2010, based on article 5 paragraph 4 of Ordinance Law No. 10/002. of August 20, 2010 relating to the customs code, as administrative units competent for the completion of customs formalities as well as premises and other locations approved for this purpose by customs. However, each revenue mobilization unit is provided with the means (resources) in the form of inputs and operates on the basis of assignments which must, normally, be achieved by realizing revenue in the form of outputs. In relation to achieving the assigned objectives, customs offices thus receive resources that can enable them to become more involved in the mobilization of customs revenue. Curiously, we rather have the impression, given the comparative evolution of resources collected and assignments during the period 2015 to 2021, that these customs offices are moving further and further away from their objectives, with an execution rate average revenue mobilization of 43.9% for a release rate of operating costs of 98.5% and the number of agents corresponding to the needs of each customs office in the south-east of the DRC.