GRA on Track to Meet 2019 Revenue Target

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is on track to meet its GH¢45.4 billion revenue target for 2019, Commissioner General of GRA, Mr Emmanuel Kofi Nti, has assured.

The Commissioner General said this in an interview on the sidelines of the maiden edition of the Zenith Bank SMEs /Corporate Breakfast Meeting, which was held in Accra under the theme: “Empowering the private sector to maximise revenue through compliance with Ghana’s tax regime.”

He said that as of the end of April, the GRA had achieved about 98.2 per cent of its target for the first four months of the year.

“As at the end of April, we had done about 98.2 per cent of our target for the first four months and we will continue to put in more efforts to ensure we mobilise the needed revenues for the state,” Mr Nti stated.

He was confident that the full year target would be met, as the new revenue policies were implemented.

When asked about the impact of the recent reduction in import duties by the government, he said the policy was yet to have any impact on the revenues of the state.

“We just started this policy and people will take time to respond to it so the actual impact will be seen around July because that is when people are likely to take advantage of it and do more importation,” he stated.

He said the main reason for the slash in import duties was to minimise the smuggling and diversion of goods into the system.

“This would impact heavily on our revenue and also help build the attitude of compliance in our people which is very important.

We have made it more expensive and costly to be involved in deviant behaviours.

Previously, people were complaining that they were robbing the state because the charges were too high so now that we have reduced it, we have minimised their ability to use that as an anchor,” he explained.

The Managing Director of Zenith Bank Ghana, Mr Henry Oroh, said the forum was part of the bank’s contribution to tax education in the country.

He commended the GRA for their work in driving tax compliance and education in the country and for embarking on a digitisation programme that had allowed taxes to be easily collectable.

“One of the problems of the collection of taxes is collectability of taxes and the GRA has done a lot to improve the collectability of taxes and tax education has increased significantly,” he noted.