The Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) has been tasked by the government to collect 13.5 billion dalasis in tax revenue in 2022.

Yankuba Darboe, commissioner general of GRA, confirmed that his office is tasked by the government to meet that goal this year. 

Mr Darboe said they are aiming to overhaul the tax system with two major reforms for 2022 namely moving from ASYCUDA to ASYCUDA World and moving from Gam tax net to ITAS tax net.

He added that these two systems are their  biggest reform targets of the new year.

Essa Jallow, the deputy commissioner general and head of domestic tax at GRA, said they are optimistic that the GRA will meet the 2021 annual target. 

He said challenges remain such as the Covid-19 pandemic and other global events that might affect the country’s economic environment. 

“Even in instances where we find ourselves in that kind of situation there will be a lot of evidences available to explain the previous performance that GRA has registered.

“You realise that you don’t have to look at this revenue collection in isolation, we operate within an economy and this economy is also affected by things that are happening outside this country, and all this has an impact on the kind of work that we do and Covid-19 is among them,” Mr Jallow said. 

“We are creating room for police and other stakeholders like the Ministry of Finance, GIEPA, GPA and others, where the information we share with them will be available there and they will have access to them easily without going to GRA,” he added.

Mr Jallow said they are optimistic of attaining the D12.8 billion target that the government tasks them to collect in 2022 and will announce the amount collected at the end of the year.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba

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