URA CG John Musinguzi while addressing the media on Tuesday.
Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has announced revenue collections for the period July 2021 to March 2022.
Addressing the media at the URA headquarters in Nakawa, Kampala on Tuesday, Commissioner General, John Musinguzi, said “From July to March, the actual net revenue collections were UGX 15,466.68 Bn representing 69.16% of the annual target.”
This is a significant growth in revenue of UGX 1,490.41 Bn (10.66%) registered in July to March FY 2021/22 compared to the same period in the FY 2020/21.
However, CG Musinguzi said, “the outturn for the period was short of the target of UGX 16,532.43 billion by UGX 1,065.75 billion.”
The collection, were however, below the target by UGX 1,185.70 billion.
According to the CG, the Domestic revenue collections in the first nine months of the FY 2021/22 were UGX 9,484.62 Bn against a target of UGX 10,670.32 Bn, registering a growth of UGX 816.22 Bn (9.42%) as compared to the same period in FY 2020/21.
Manufacturing, financial services, public service and defence and ICT did performed well compared to electricity and gas, construction and real estate among others. The CG says that the decline in some areas are attributed to the slow recovery of the economy from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Full reopening of the economy
According to the CG, the full reopening of the economy has led to the growth in revenue collection. The country reopened fully in February 2022 after nearly two years in partial and total lockdowns. Education and hospitality sectors reopened for the first time in two years. Commenting on their impact on the collection, the CG said.
“The revenue performance has improved. It wasn’t just education. Bars, and many other sectors that had impacted on by the Covid-19. In March, we were able to collect our target and exceed it. In April, we have been able to hit our target and exceed it by a significant percentage. So, even the deficit that we carried forward from the previous 9 months has closed. By the time we finished the 8 months of lockdown, our deficit on the target was slightly over a trillion. Now, following the April performance, we have reduced this to about 800 billion. We are working hard to achieve the target. With optimism that we can close this financial year successfully. It’s possible. But it will all depend on the support of Ugandans, the people doing business in this economy and of commitment and the stretching of the URA officers who are already committed to this. We are working day and night. We will only approach those who have tax to pay, not those who don’t have,” the CG said.
It is important, however, to note that URA has a 2021/2022 target of 22 trillion.
