The
Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) has announced it has exceeded the target of
D10.7 billion revenue set by government.
The
authority’s Commissioner General Yankuba has expressed appreciation with the
level of the commitment and dedication demonstrated by his staff over the past
year in ensuring that GRA exceeds the targeted goal set by government in
revenue mobilisation.
This
was revealed during their Staff Award Night on Friday.
He
said the authority during the year under review had a monthly average
collection of D900 million. Initially, he added that GRA thought it impossible
to achieve the target.
“Despite
all these challenges I am glad to announce that this year, GRA are on course to
exceed the target set by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs for
2019,” Mr. Darboe said on Friday.
“We
all know how difficult and stressful it has been to meet the target putting into account the size of our tax
base; the collapse of Thomas Cook in the 3rd quarter of the year; the declining
volume of international trade and other
logistic issues hampering international trade.”
According
to Mr. Darboe, despite these factors, GRA was able to meet this year’s target
due to the sheer determination of “our entire staff – from the cleaners,
drivers, to senior management and the board.”
“With
the enormous support and guidance of our board made up of distinguished
personalities and experts in the various aspects of revenue mobilisation, the
administration’s teamwork of top and senior management and that of the entire
staff of the authority, we are able to make it. We are able to register the
highest revenue ever collected by the authority since its inception, Mr. Darboe
affirmed.
He
also seized the opportunity to thank their development partners and
stakeholders; such as the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Ministry of
Trade, the IMF, the World Bank, AFDB, World Customs Organisation ,WATAF and ATAF
for their invaluable support over the years.
He
said their success was registered due to the various reforms that “we have
implemented over the years with our development partners and stakeholders who
were central in the implementation of those reforms.”
Other
speakers included Mod Secka, PS Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs and
the GRA Board Chairperson Madam Lucy Faye.
They
both commended the GRA management under the stewardship of Commissioner General
Yankuba Darboe and also advised the awardees to continue to show more
commitment towards their work.
