Trends and perspectives of FDI in Guinea

The 2024 Guinea Investment Forum which concluded on 6 March, showcased a promising future for investment in Guinea. Sheena Carnie spoke to Hamidou Drame, partner at Guilex Avocats, to unravel the latest legal and tax reforms aimed at enhancing foreign direct investment in the country.

Underlining the nation’s welcoming stance towards both national and international investors, speaking at the forum Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah emphasised Guinea’s eagerness to foster significant advancements in the energy, mining, transport and housing sectors. 

With the Interim Reference Program (IRP) now considered as the country’s national development plan for 2022 to 2025, Guinea has initiated profound structural reforms to improve the country’s attractiveness for foreign direct investments (FDI). The recent tax and investment reforms adopted by Guinea’s government mainly concern a series of regulatory measures which clarify legal provisions related to the approval and validity of tax and customs exemptions and the fiscal stability clauses, and the adoption of a law on local content.

“Two of the five major axes of this IRP concern reforms linked to the legal framework and governance, and infrastructures,” explained Hamidou Drame, partner at Guilex Avocats, based in Conakry, Guinea. “These reforms are already based on an attractive legal framework for foreign direct investments, partly because Guinea adopted an investment code in 2015 and a law on public‒private partnerships in 2017.”

Guinea’s 2024 finance law specifies that the tax exemptions are only valid if granted in line with those allowed by the legislative body. “Exemptions must be justified in advance in a request submitted for this purpose to the minister in charge of the budget,” said Drame. “All tax and customs exemption agreements concluded before the 2024 finance law was adopted, which do not specify the exempted taxes, must be brought into compliance within five years from 1 January 2024. In addition, beneficiaries of tax and customs exemptions must send an annually assessed compliance plan to the tax administration.”

With regard to the stabilisation clauses, Guinea’s 2024 finance law states that when the investment made or planned requires a stabilised tax regime, a stability clause can be granted and ratified by the legislative body for a period not exceeding ten years.

“On the institutional level, the Guinean Agency for the Promotion of Private Investments has set up a digital system for the submission of requests related to tax and customs exemptions under the Investment Code,” Drame added.

The local content law contains several provisions that may impact foreign direct investments, as this law applies to numerous economic activities, including those in the mining and oil sectors. It concerns, in particular, private projects or public–private partnerships (PPPs) carried out by private investors within the framework of the Investment Code. 

“Companies covered by the local content law and companies working on their behalf are required to employ Guinean personnel based on a minimum quota according to hierarchical levels of managers, supervisors, qualified or unskilled workers,” explained Drame. “For example, for the executive category, the law provides for 30% Guinean staff, including the human resources manager, from the start of activities.”

Companies affected by this law which carry out projects in Guinea – regardless of the sector – must also establish contracts with Guinean natural- or legal persons for the supply of goods or the provision of services. 

“A list of local goods and services must be defined by an order of the minister in charge of the private sector, and to date this list has still not been published,” Drame clarified. 

“The complementary and implementing regulations of this local content law are in the process of being adopted, in particular the law on the regulatory authority for local content in Guinea. However, it should be noted that the local content law provides that within the framework of PPPs, Guinean companies must benefit from at least 40% of the work volumes of the services and activities to be carried out,” he said.

Investors are advised to stay informed of developments relating to the local content law and prepare their operational activities to comply with the new legislation.