Investing in Comoros

The Code des Investissements 2020 allows Comorian and foreign persons and companies to invest under the applicable law. It provides for equal treatment, protection of ownership and compensation rules for nationalisation or expropriation carried out for a public purpose through a lawful, non-discriminatory procedure. Profits after tax, dividends, interest, royalties and liquidation proceeds can generally be transferred without prior approval, subject to tax and foreign-exchange rules. The most established local pathways involve direct participation in a company or project, including agriculture, fisheries, tourism and services. Land and real estate can also attract capital, but ownership records require special care because customary, Islamic and civil systems coexist. State, community, religious, family and individual rights may overlap. A title deed, cadastral record, inheritance chain, encumbrance check, survey and independent local legal review should be completed before payment. A customary or family claim alone does not establish a sufficiently secure investment title. ANPI, the National Agency for Investment Promotion, operates a Guichet Unique, or one-stop office, for company formation, investment approval and related administrative formalities. An agrément, meaning formal investment approval, is required to receive the relevant tax and customs incentives. The investment regimes use different capital, employment and duration thresholds. Regime A applies only to Comorian investors and covers KMF 20 million to KMF 100 million with a five-year incentive period and five to thirty local jobs. Regime B covers more than KMF 100 million up to KMF 1 billion, with seven years and twenty-five to one hundred jobs. Regime C covers more than KMF 1 billion in a priority sector, with ten years and eighty to three hundred jobs. Regime D covers more than KMF 10 billion in a priority sector, with fifteen years and one hundred fifty to five hundred jobs. Approved investors must submit an annual report to ANPI by 31 March of the following year. Regimes C and D also require a training and capacity-building plan within one year and require at least 25% local or resident managers after three years. Regime A has a 15% corporate income tax rate and approved import facilities; regimes B to D provide further reduced tax and customs arrangements under the applicable rules. Current ANPI application and company fees are set by ministerial rules and are not fixed in the available research. A budget should also include taxes, customs charges, registration, legal and due-diligence work, and possible transfer or broker costs. Comoros began developing a Marché des Titres Publics for government securities in 2026. Bons du Trésor are short-term government securities offered through authorised intervenants, which may act for their own account or for clients. A published 31 August 2026 example involved KMF 1.5 billion, 1,500 bills with a KMF 1 million nominal value, a 28-day term and a 4.73% TMP rate. Interest was deducted in advance and the principal was repaid at maturity. The market is young, so local liquidity and resale possibilities remain limited, and the investment carries government credit and market-infrastructure risk. There is no reliable official evidence of a Comorian stock-exchange infrastructure, securities broker, custodian bank or retail public-fund market. The BRVM covers eight UEMOA countries, and Comoros is not a member, so Comoros has no local BRVM membership. Shares, funds and ETFs may require an account with a foreign regulated provider, but local availability and investor protection must be checked separately. The Banque Centrale des Comores, or BCC, has warned against unauthorised financial and offshore offers; only institutions with the required BCC approval should be used. The Comorian franc, KMF, is fixed to the euro at EUR 1 = KMF 491.96775, which reduces exchange-rate exposure between those two currencies. Investments involving other currencies still carry foreign-exchange risk. Broader risks include informal business practices, unclear ownership chains, licensing and approval delays, weak infrastructure, island-specific natural risks, concentration in a small economy, anti-money-laundering and customer-identification requirements, fraud by unauthorised platforms, and difficulty exiting an investment. A project review should therefore cover the counterparty, licence or agrément, permits, ownership, tax and customs status, cash flow, exit plan, and lawful transfer method before capital is committed.