Madagascar has been awarded a score of 67 out of 100 by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). This score is deemed “low” compared to other countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo or Senegal, which scored 85 and 93 points respectively.
“The objective of this evaluation,” states the international organization Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), “is to emphasize that the exploitation of natural resources can have impacts on the lives of the population.” It is through a scoring system of around twenty requirements that Madagascar received this rating of 67/100.
The international organization, from which Madagascar was reinstated in 2019 after its suspension in 2017 for failure to publish reports, assesses its member countries every three years.
Lack of Transparency in Data
The score attributed to the country is “quite low,” emphasizes Sergio Marc, the interim executive director of EITI on the island, who points out certain poor results: “Firstly, there is what we call ‘beneficial ownership.’ This involves establishing a register of beneficial owners. These are individuals or companies that own more than 10% of the shares in mining companies. This register should be available for public consultation, for example on the EITI website. And currently, this is not the case at all,” he explains.
Implementation of the Mining Code Decree
Thus, ultimately, it is on transparency criteria that the results are the least favorable. However, concerning the mining code, which was passed ten months ago but is still awaiting the publication of an implementing decree, things are expected to progress soon.
Another advancement applauded by the report is the resumption of evaluations of mining permit applications, the issuance of which had been frozen for over thirteen years.