Despite Ebola, Impressive First Quarter Revenue Performance

The NRA is expected to collect Le2.078 trillion for the fiscal year (FY) 2015. Of this amount, a total of Le464.4 billion is projected to be collected in quarter one (Q1); Le505. Billion in Q2; Le540.5 billion in Q3 and Le 566.8 billion in Q4. Total revenue collected by the NRA for the period January—March 31st, 2015, amounted to Le548.5 billion as against the Q1 target of Le464.4 billion meaning that the Authority has surpassed its 2015 Q1 revenue target by Le84.1 billion.

Of this collection, the Domestic Taxes Department (DTD) collected Le371.4 billion contributing 68% to total collection, Customs and Excise Department (CED) Le146.1 billion and Non-Tax Revenue (NTR) Le30.9 billion. The NTR revenue collection has notably dropped due to two reasons. Firstly, the low scale activities in the mining sector particularly iron ore, and secondly, the continued deterioration of world market prices for mining products.

Despite numerous challenges of the Ebola outbreak with especially the slow recovery of economic activities in the country, the Authority through hard work, commitment and professionalism is forging ahead with its revenue mobilization drive. With the current collection trend, given this impressive first quarter revenue performance, the Authority is set to further surpass its second quarter target by a large margin. It should be noted that revenue collected by the Authority is transferred directly into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) for use by government to fund budgetary expenditures.