GRA struggling to collect remaining D5.7 Billion by end of December
Mr Yankuba Darboe, the Commissioner General at the Gambia Revenue Authority has said that the Authority is struggling to collect the remaining D5.7 Billion by the end of December 2022.
CGDarboe also confirmed that the current revenue collection from January to end of August 2022 by the GRA has generated D8.3 Billion out of the mandated D13.5 Billion while the Authority is struggling mush hard to collect the remaining D5.7 Billion by the end of December 2022.
In an interview with journalists, Darboe revealed that despite the hardship presently faced by the African continent as a result of the Ukraine-Russia war, the nation’s Authority is still committed to achieving the (D13.5 Billion) targeted annual revenue by end of December this year.
According to Commissioner General Darboe, he said the annual revenue Target tasked by the central government to collect this year stands at D13.5 Billion, with the expectation that the Authority will achieve the targeted revenue by end of December 2022.
As he advanced with talks on the current global challenge confronted by the continent which the Gambia is not an exception particularly in terms of trade which seriously had an effect on the revenue collection and made life tough.
Darboe further highlights that both the Ukraine-Russian war and the pandemic have worsened the situation to a point that global trade charges have increased which is beyond the Gambia. And that as a result, there is nothing much that the Gambia can do about that and these are factors that are above the Gambia.
He continued that in addition to the trade charges that have been increased, they also experienced higher commodities costs in the global Market, in particular, and that Gambia depends on importation “more so the fact that those charges have increased, it also reflected in the market prices of the goods that are in the country.”
He added that these are some of the things that are affecting international trade and such is reflecting on revenue, but as head of the GRA, he is always hopeful about achieving the country’s revenue target.
On the actual impact of the MOU signed between the GRA and the Commercial Bank, he confirmed that the MOU has impacted positively in helping the GRA mobilize revenue collection very easily without coming to GRA’s main office to effect payment.
Darboe concluded by commenting on the level of the compliance of the Public Enterprise companies of which he applauded them for their considerate in responding positively to their tax obligation.
