Gambia Revenue Authority  (GRA) has been tasked to collect more than D15 billion as revenue for 2023,  after being given a pat on the back by the Barrow-led government through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs for  its impressive performance in 2022.

GRA Commissioner General Yankuba Darboe said that 2022 was a very difficult and challenging year coupled with numerous obstacles, but with team work, commitment and dedication, GRA was able to collect more than D12.7 billion exceeding its annual revenue target for 2022.

Briefing tax reporters on the revenue collection for 2022 at his office in Banjul last Friday, CG Darboe also disclosed that in 2023, the government through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MOFEA) has tasked GRA to collect D15.2 billion as annual revenue target for 2023.

“The year 2022 was a very difficult and challenging year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war,” the GRA boss said, adding that the war led to an increase of freight charges that impacted the value of containers coming to the country and the cost of goods also started going up.

“All that makes life very difficult for importers because it affects the volume of goods that they used to bring in,” he explained.  “The war has also impacted the importation of certain goods from Ukraine; so there were lesser goods and that means lesser collection but luckily we decided to intensify our domestic revenue mobilisation, which ended up paying dividends.”

Fuel prices, he noted, have also affected the revenue collection.

CG Darboe said the government spent up to D1.6 billion on subsidies because the government realises that they cannot leave the citizens all alone with the increasing prices of fuel.  “Those are monies that we should collect, and that has a negative effect on our collection,” he said. “On duty waiver, the government also gives up about D2 billion, as there were duty waivers for some of the road construction like the OIC roads. That also affected our collection because we were not allowed to tax them. So, we have about D3.6 billion given up by the government on subsidies and duty waivers. We hope and pray that 2023 will be better. We have already set ourselves a target for 2023, which is D15.2 billion, and depending on the circumstances we should be able to collect that amount.”

Going forward, Mr Darboe said that with team spirit, hard work, and  commitment from the GRA  board, the management, staff and the taxpayers, as well as the media who were in the forefront  of public awareness on the importance of tax compliance,  “GRA  performed relatively well by exceeding its annual revenue target of D12.7 Billion for 2022”.

He therefore extolled the Board, Management and staff of GRA, the taxpayers including the media for their commitment towards national development.

He added that GRA alone could not achieve this feat of an impressive revenue mobilization without the voluntary compliance of the taxpayers. 

He also praised the business community for being tax compliant over the years. 

“The business community’s cooperation with GRA has boosted dividend in the collection of revenue for national development,” CG Darboe said.

He thanks specially taxpayers, saying: “Without them and their cooperation, we would not achieve our target. Even the richest man on earth doesn’t want to release money but they have to sacrifice to pay their taxes to support the running of the government.”