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Zimbabwe Misses Revenue Target

Zimbabwe Misses Revenue Target
Zimbabwe Misses Revenue Target

Zimbabwe’s tax agency missed revenue target for 2016 by 4% after collecting $3.4 billion against a target of $3.6 billion due to poor performance of the economy, Xinhua reported. The $3.4 billion was also 10% lower than the $3.8 billion collected in 2015. Declining commodity prices, reduction in national production, a stronger US dollar and foreign currency externalization were among the factors that undermined economic growth in 2016 and hence affected revenue collection, said Zimbabwe Revenue Authority chairperson Willia Bonyongwe on Thursday. “In the absence of any significant foreign direct investment, the economy had low investment levels, declining levels of unemployment and low income levels. Consequently, aggregate demand for goods and services continued to fall and this had an adverse impact on all tax heads during the year,” she said. As companies continue to choke under a poor performing economy, many are failing to pay their tax obligations and this resulted in debt which stood at $1.97 billion in January 2016 soaring to $2.67 billion at the close of the year. The revenue authority, however, recovered $1.11 billion from outstanding debt in 2016, Bonyongwe said.

 

 

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