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· The Government of Ethiopia has upped its annual tax revenue for the budget year concluded July 7, 2020 by about 18 percent
· This will work out to close to US$ 1 billion as compared to the previous yea
The Government of Ethiopia has upped its annual tax revenue for the budget year concluded July 7, 2020 by about 18 percent. This will work out to close to US$ 1 billion as compared to the previous year. The annual revenue has increased by 35.4 billion birr (about one billion dollar), according to Minister of Revenue of Ethiopia La’qe Ayalew. During the recently concluded budget year, the country has collected a total of 233.7 billion birr (close to $6.57 billion at the current exchange rate). The Ministry has achieved 86.5 percent of its target for the year.
Mentioning the reasons for increase in the tax revenues, the minister said that e-filing and e-taxing had helped higher mopping up of the revenues. Also, the government was vigilant against tax dodgers and evaders by taking up appropriate surveillance actions. Illegal contraband trading and smuggling were plugged to a great extent.
For the current Budget ending in July 2021, the ministry has set a target for collecting 290 billion birr, which will be close to US$ 8.15 billion. Of that, 164 billion birr (US$4.5 billion) will be collected through domestic sources and the rest will be through import duty. The finance ministry is also exploring ways and means for upping the revenue collection of the government to meet the demand for higher resources to fund the development works and to set right the economy impaired by the coronovirus pandemic.
