Julie Essiam
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is on course to achieving its tax target of GH¢146 billion for the year 2024, according to the Commissioner General, Julie Essiam.
This follows key successes recorded in the Authority’s mid-year 2024 collection performance.
She said at a media briefing that total of GH¢68.49 billion against a half year budget of GH¢67.9 billion has so far been collected.
This, she said, exceeded the cumulative mid-year target by GH¢138.6 million, which represents a 0.2% increase.
“This is instructive to note that the Authority exceeded its mid-year target, an achievement which represents a nominal growth of 37.6% over the same period last year,” Ms. Essiam stated.
Equally, the GRA also outperformed and exceeded its monthly target for June, by an exceptional 21.2%, touting it as a significant increase in a single month.
“All of these were achieved against the headwinds of a very difficult first quarter. The ensuing performance after the first quarter is a testament to the commitment and resilience of the Authority to deliver the overall target by year end,” Ms. Essiam said.
Indeed, the Authority fell below its January target by 12.3%, with a shortfall of 6.3% in February, as March suffered similar trend of an increased negative deviation of 12.7%.
However, Ms. Essiam disclosed that the GRA started a journey of rebound in April where the monthly target was exceeded by 1.9%, then exceeded again in May by 1.4%.
Subsequently, a significant achievement of a positive increase of 21.2% in June was recorded, which according to the Commissioner General, supported the turnaround to achieve the positive half-year performance target.
“The difficulties of the first quarter empowered leadership to design a 90-day plan to ensure we were strategically focused and very deliberate in turning the tides of a negative first quarter,” Ms. Essiam disclosed.
Other Key Successes Chalked
A key component of the 90-day plan, according to the Commissioner General, led to 80% VAT contributions for a targeted 600 companies. This, accordingly, transitioned into the first phase of registration.
That target, the GRA said, was exceeded as 614 companies were onboarded as of June 30 by the Domestic Tax Revenue Division of the Authority.
The Authority has also, according to the Commissioner General, registered 176, 524 new taxpayers against a 2024 annual target of 144,000.
“All these gains will help to achieve our goal of the GH¢146 billion and ultimately achieve a tax-to-GDP ratio of 20% by the end of year 2027,” the Commissioner General said.