UN eyes Africa oil levy to fight disease

The United Nations has begun talks with African leaders over a levy on oil that could rake in huge sums to fight disease in developing countries, a top official said today.

"This year I will be working with African leaders for a tax on natural resource extraction, a very important development," said Philippe Douste-Blazy, chairman of UNITAID, the UN's drug purchase facility.

"The idea is to levy a microscopic solidarity contribution on the country's side, 10 cents per barrel. It's totally painless," he told reporters.

He explained that the money would be tapped from national revenues, rather than directly from the often foreign companies that help African nations drill for and trade in oil.
 

The former French health and foreign minister said a levy would help African countries help each other.

"This idea of South-South solidarity is really interesting in Africa," he said.

"You have a scissor effect. You have the needs increasing with extreme poverty, and you have official development aid, which is decreasing. So we have to create new funding," he added.

Douste-Blazy said the programme would also cover gas and mining and that discussions were ongoing with "three or four" African leaders, but declined to elaborate.

Africa's oil giants are Nigeria, Algeria and Angola.

According to consultants KPMG, the continent's other exporters are Sudan, South Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Congo, Gabon, Chad, Egypt, Tunisia, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Libya, Democratic Republic of Congo and Mauritania.

Africa's total oil output in 2011 was almost 9.4 million barrels per day, KPMG said.

Douste-Blazy was in Geneva for the World Health Organization's annual assembly.

Also attending was Christine Kaseba-Sata, first lady of copper-mining hub Zambia and a UN women's health ambassador.

She welcomed the tax idea, noting that Zambia was already eyeing ways to harness a domestic levy on mining and construction.

"The government has been in talks with health bodies to see how we can get a percentage of the funding from the ongoing projects, as a way of mobilising resources, especially for HIV," she told reporters.