Nation Collects Close to 234 Billion Birr Annual Revenue

Addis Ababa, August 19/2020(ENA)Ministry of Revenues disclosed that it has collected 233.9 billion Birr during the concluded Ethiopian Fiscal Year. 

Revenues Minister Laqe Ayalew told journalists today that the income has shown 17.9 percent increase over the year before last.

He said this encouraging achievement was registered due to the various measures taken by the government to improve revenue collection.

“Amendments made in tariffs, legal frameworks and customs prices as well as the restructuring of tax collection and law enforcement systems were among the contributing factors that helped to improve the revenues,” the minister elaborated.

The recognition given to devoted tax payers by the ministry has also played crucial role in  increasing the nation’s revenue.

Furthermore, efforts have been made to increase customer satisfaction by reducing the duration of containers at dry port and using technology to provide services effectively.

Out of the total revenue collected in the year, 104.9 billion was obtained from customs services, 128.7 billion from local sources, and 152 million from the National Lottery Administration.

“Despite improvements,” Laqe stated that “the collected revenue is not remarkable when compared to the size of the economy of the country. We have to make intensified efforts to boost revenues.”

Moreover, the minister revealed that online tax collection system will be fully operational beginning from September, 2020.

Ministry of Revenues plans to collect 290 billion Birr this Ethiopian fiscal year, it was learned.

Ethiopia's revenue collection performance remains low at 11.3 percent of GDP as compared to the average for sub-Saharan Africa, which is 16 percent on average.