By Isatou Jallow
The undefeatable Commissioner General of the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) Yankuba Darboe has confirmed to this medium that despite the hardship currently facing the African continent due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine the country’s revenue authority is still committed to achieving the (D13.5 Billion) annual revenue target by end December 2022.
Updating the Media on the current revenue collection, CG Darboe from January to the end of August 2022, the Gambia Revenue Authority generated D8.3Billion out of the mandated D13.5 Billion and is struggling very hard to collect the remaining D5.7 Billion by end of December 2022.
He revealed this development last Thursday in an interview with the media at his office in Banjul.
He stated that the annual revenue target tasked by the Government for GRA to collect in 2022 stands at D13.5 Billion while he expressed optimism that his authority will achieve the revenue target by end of December 2022.
GRA Boss also spoke extensively on the global challenge faced by the continent and the Gambia is not an exception, especially in terms of trade which affected the revenue collection seriously and made life very difficult.
According to GRA Boss, the covid-19 situation and the Ukraine-Russian war have worsened the situation to a point that international trade charges have increased which is beyond the Gambia. He said as a result there is nothing much that the Gambia can do about that and these are factors that are above the Gambia.
He explained that in addition to the trade charges that have been increased they also experience higher commodities costs in the global Market, in particular, 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.”
These are some of the things that are affecting international trade and such is reflecting on revenue but as head of GRA, he is always optimistic about achieving the country’s revenue target.
CG Darboe also spoke extensively about the effective impact of the MOU signed between the GRA and the Commercial Bank. He confirmed that the MOU has impacted positively in helping GRA mobilize revenue collection very easily without coming to GRA’s main office to make payment.
Mr. Darboe also dilated on the level of the compliance of the Public Enterprise companies of which he (Mr. Darboe) praised them for their understanding in responding positively to their tax obligation