Cabo Verde exempts imports of electric vehicles and charging equipment from VAT in 2025

What changed in detail

Cabo Verde’s State Budget law for 2025, Lei n.º 45/X/2024 de 30 de dezembro, was published in the Boletim Oficial, I Série, n.º 125, Suplemento, on 30 December 2024 and entered into force on 1 January 2025 (Article 105).

Article 48, “Incentivos à mobilidade elétrica”, provides that:

• the import of electric vehicles, including two-wheelers, is exempt from IVA, from the special consumption tax (ICE) and from import duty (DI);
• the import of new EV charging equipment, including connectors, protections, connection cables and meters used exclusively for charging, and of self-generation and energy-storage installations linked to public charging points, is exempt from customs duties and IVA;
• the import of electric motors and batteries for artisanal fishing boats is exempt from import duty and IVA;
• the exemptions are granted by the Direção Nacional de Receitas do Estado (DNRE);
• the electric vehicles covered are also exempt from parking fees.

Article 49 of the same law provides for a guarantee line in 2025 to support the electric mobility programme.

What it means

The 2025 measure is spent, but the exemption carried on: the 2026 State Budget (Lei n.º 69/X/2025, Article 54) repeats the same exemptions for electric vehicles, charging equipment and fishing-boat motors and batteries.

The exemption is enacted in the annual budget law rather than in the VAT Code, and it has been re-enacted for 2026, so its continuation depends on each year’s budget. Importers planning shipments around a year end should check the following year’s budget law before relying on it. The exemption is granted by the DNRE, so it is not automatic at the border.