GASABO - Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) has collected a staggering Rwf 95.9 billion in the first quarter of 2009, beating its target by 108 percent, the tax body announced yesterday.

The revenue body had targeted a tune of Rwf88.2 billion from both tax and non tax revenue compared to Rwf71.8 billion collected in the first quarter of 2008.

The Rwf7.7 billion surplus is attributed to the overall good performance of the economy. Last year Rwanda registered a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 11.2 percent, driven by a boom in the agricultural sector which grew by 15 percent.

"During the first quarter this year, various revenue and administrative measures were taken in order to improve efficiency in its operations and broaden the tax base and this has largely   helped us to achieve our targets,” said RRA’s Commissioner General, Mary Baine.

Baine, who released the results to the press at the tax body’s headquarters, noted that despite the general good performance so far, the current global economic crisis has not spared her institution’s collections.

She noted that the global economic downturn has crippled tax collections specifically citing the low performance of the cumulative profit tax which missed its target by about Rwf2.7 million.

This was due to the underperformance of this tax under large tax payers by about 11.9 percent.

"This was probably caused by the decrease of revenue from withholding tax which missed its target attributed to the current prevailing circumstances that have resulted into a decline in liquidity on the local money market,” she said.

Under performance was also recorded under domestic Value Added Tax (VAT), which is the country’s leading tax earner.

The total tax revenue collected including treasury credit check for the first quarter amounted to Rwf94 billion against a target of Rwf86.4 billion translating into 108.8 percent, while non-tax revenue collected by the authority surpassed its target by 8.2 percent.

RRA targets 176 billion in the first six months of this year and Baine says, basing on the good performance registered in the first quarter, she is optimistic that RRA will achieve its overall targets. 

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