By: Sandally Sawo
The Director of Revenue and Tax Policy at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Mr. Alagie Jallow, has described the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) as the face of The Gambia, considering the Authority’s unprecedented landmark achievements.
Mr. Jallow made this statement at Basse during the recently concluded countrywide tour of the GRA Board and Management to discover ground truths about the welfare of tax collectors and revenue mobilization drive across the country.
Speaking on behalf of the finance and economic affairs minister, Mr. Jallow expressed appreciation to the GRA’s footsoldiers for their commitment to the government’s revenue mobilization efforts by ensuring that the annual revenue target set by the government is always met.
He admitted that the GRA staff work in difficult environments to square up to the government’s revenue target, describing the GRA as the champion of The Gambia in terms of revenue generation.
Mr. Jallow highlighted that the huge informal sector of the economy is one of the areas that poses a great challenge to the Authority, explaining that the sector is difficult to tax. He added that the low digital penetration through the sector makes it cumbersome to know who is doing what.
“The third thing is that we, as a country, have overly tax exemptions, which also limit the GRA’s capacity to generate revenue and also there is a low compliance rate. People are not willing to come forward and declare themselves and pay their taxes,” said Jallow. This, he added, constitutes a big hindrance to GRA’s operations.
He acknowledged that despite the challenges, the GRA continues to improve its revenue performance.
“We have seen the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) increase its performance in a very dramatic way from D10.7 billion two years ago to almost D15.4 billion and counting and the best performer is someone who knows what he would be able to achieve for a target and as we speak now, GRA already knew what they can do and that is why it has become a public knowledge that they are one of the best revenue administrations in the sub-region,” said Jallow.
He explained that GRA’s sterling performance in revenue mobilization was confirmed by Gambia’s development partners such as the IMF and the World Bank.
“Somebody said GRA is the backbone of this country. I will say that GRA is the face of this country. Why do I say so? If you want to see GRA’s achievements, don’t go to the field today. Go to Nuimi Hakalang Road in the North Bank Region and you will see a very amazing, eye-catching development there,” the head of the finance ministry’s revenue and tax policy said.
He pointed out that D2.3 billion road projects were implemented due to GRA’s increased efficiency in revenue collection.
Mr. Jallow thanked the Commissioner General of the GRA, Mr. Yankuba Darboe, and the team for their accomplishments.
