Revenue collection for the first part of the year was 9.7 percent higher than the same period in 2015, buoyed by a 5 percent increase in revenues from Value Added Tax (VAT) as well as an increase from company taxes, which included $675.2 million from a company operating in the oil industry.
“Tax revenue collections increased by 6.1 percent, reaching $75.1 billion during the first half of 2016, compared with $70.9 billion during the same period in 2015,” the Ministry of Finance’s Mid-Year Report on the economy says.
It revealed that VAT collections totalled $17.3 billion during the first half of 2016, which is 5 percent more than the same period in 2015. VAT on imports declined by $1.4 billion, while VAT on domestic supplies increased by $436.4 million. Declining VAT revenues on imports were due to a fall in imports by the wholesale and retail sector, while significant collections of VAT arrears, amounting to $124.4 million and $74.7 million from the manufacturing and services sectors, respectively, were responsible for the increases in VAT on domestic supplies, the report said.
