Customs Division of GRA collects GH¢10.3bn in 2016
The Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has posted a revenue growth of GH¢10.3 billion in 2016, a little higher than the GH¢8.2 billion collected in 2015.
Advertisement
This showed that revenue collected by the Customs Division grew by 26.3 per cent within the period.
However, in spite of the annual growth, the division failed to meet its 2016 target of GH¢10.8 billion.
As of December last year, data from the GRA showed that the division trailed its 2016 target by GH¢495.8 million.
This had a negative impact on the overall collections of GRA in 2016, which its Commissioner-General, Mr George Blankson, described as tremendous.
“Although the GRA did not meet the stated target, its performance has been tremendous,” Mr Blankson said at an end-of-year get-together organised by the GRA in Accra.
“It is partly for this reason that we have gathered here to celebrate our modest achievements and to plan the way forward,” he said.
He noted that 2017 would be a challenging one, hence the need for all stakeholders to work together in order to prevent the activities of tax evaders.
“While I urge you all to work assiduously to facilitate the work of our stakeholders who do genuine business, we must ensure that those who intend to evade the payment of legitimate duties and taxes are made to pay dearly for it,” he said.
For that to be effective, he said, notices had been sent to stakeholders, sector commanders and published in the national dailies, spelling out sanctions that would apply to offenders.
Improve performance
For his part, the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, said for an emerging economy such as Ghana, revenue collections should be equivalent to about 25 per cent to 35 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
As a result, he said, although the performance had been described as encouraging, the authority needed to do more to enhance its collection in 2017.
He stated that the government intended to rationalise public expenditures, strengthen contract management and realign statutory funds to priority projects.
“The government is committed to ensuring fiscal discipline and good economic governance, focusing on transparent and accountable use of public resources,” he said.
Awards
Staff of GRA and other institutions such as West Blue Consulting were honoured for rendering exceptional service to the country and the international community.
This is the second time in 2017 that West Blue Consulting has received an award in the country after it first clinched a similar award in Nigeria in 2015 in recognition of its exceptional services to the international community.
Single Window project
West Blue Consulting, in partnership with the Customs Division of the GRA, launched the Ghana National Single Window (GNSW) project.
Under the project, import clearance transactions at the Tema Port and the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) have reduced from two weeks to two hours to increase government’s revenue at the ports.
Through the project, Ghana’s ranking has increased in the World Bank Trading Across Border Reports from 167th in 2015 to 154th in 2017; and in the Sub-Saharan Africa sub-region, Ghana ranked first in West Africa and Top 10 in Sub-Saharan Africa, coming in at the 9th position out of the 47 countries ranked in the region.