The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has maintained an upward trajectory in revenue collection after recording a 6.7 per cent growth in financial year 2022/2023.
In the 2022/2023 financial year, the taxman collected a revenue Kshs2.166 trillion, higher than 2021/2022 financial year which was Ksh2.032 trillion.
In a statement on Friday, July 14, the KRA stated that revenue collection has progressively increased from Kshs.1.58 trillion in financial year 2018/2019 to Kshs.2.166 trillion in the financial yeay2022/2023.
This financial year it has collected Kshs.136.390 billion reflecting a growth of 3.7 per cent compared to last financial year.
Additionally, in digital business, KRA collected a total of Ksh5.328 billion representing 207.9% growth.
Excise on betting registered an excellent performance rate of 116.2 per cent after collecting Ksh6.640 billion exceeding the set target of Ksh5.5715 billion.
According to KRA, Domestic VAT collection recorded a growth of 11.3 per cent.
This revenue collection signifies a performance rate of 95.3 per cent against the target despite an economic slowdown stemming from unfavorable global fiscal environment.
Moreover, slowed domestic economic growth and a series of shocks that hit the economy, including drought and, international conflicts affected the performance.
This mirrors the World real GDP growth that decelerated to 3.4 per cent in 2022 from a growth of 6.0 per cent in 2021 disrupting the supply chain, and high prices of fuel, electricity, and food.
The general economic environment also suffered from exchange rate of the Kenya Shilling against the dollar, which registered a consistent depreciation.
Again, overall inflation was above forecast levels averaging 8.78 percent compared to an average of 6.15 percent in the financial year 2021/2022.
Furthermore, high fuel pushed up the cost of electricity and food prices. The exchange rate of the Kenya Shilling against the dollar also influenced the general economic environment.
Besides the growth in revenue collection, 6.3 million taxpayers filed their tax returns for the year 2022.
KRA said it registered 940,483 new taxpayers during the period under review as it seeks to widen tax bracket.
Consequently, the tax agency realized an additional Kshs.14.64 billion.
What’s more, the law mandates KRA to collect revenue on behalf of other government agencies mainly at the port’s entry.
The agency continues to leverage on technology to simplify tax processes and facilitate trade.
Still, KRA aspires to transform into a digital revenue administration in facilitating ease of tax compliance and trade.
Also Read: KRA Acting CG to Represent Kenya at International Tax Body, CIAT
