Parliament Raises Concern over Stagnant Tax-GDP Ratio

Jul 1 , 2023


The Standing Committee on Plan, Finance & Budget chaired by Desalegn Wodajo expressed concern over the stagnant tax-to-GDP ratio in the past two years during the performance report presentation of the Ministry of Revenues. New taxes on property, expansion of taxable services in VAT and readjustment of the ratified excise tax proclamation will broaden the tax base, according to State Minister Meseret Bekele. He assured the standing committee that there will be a rise in the ratio within the coming year. The Committee Chair expressed a welcoming attitude towards any new taxes stating the committee's willingness to ratify any law that helps to increase revenue generation. The government seeks to broaden its tax base aiming for an 18.2pc tax to GDP ratio within the next five years. It will be monumental feet to climb, having a 10 percentage point increase in insight. Under Aynalem Nigussie, the Ministry collected 405 billion Br in the year, a marked 30.9pc jump from the last year, meeting 98pc of its tax goals. The customs commission accounts for 161.4 billion Br while domestic revenues stand at 243 billion Br. Aynalem disclosed that increased collection on behalf of regional states, which climbed by 15 billion Br from the previous year to 53.3 billion Br was the reason that the Ministry could not transfer 50 billion Br to the national treasury at the Ministry of Finance. She argued the Ministry is performing well according to key performance indicators, attributing the untransferred funds as arising from policy issues.


Radar

Electricity Bills Get the VAT Jolt

The new Value Added Tax (VAT) has begun implementation on electricity consumption and various service fees affecting customers who use more than 200 kilowatt hours of electricity per month. Based on a directive from the Ministry of Finance, the tax will be applied to the excess amount of electricity consumption above 200 kilowatt hours. The Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) began implementing the VAT on bills starting from November though both prepaid and postpaid customers will have to pay VAT a...


Radar

World Bank Greases Financial Overhaul

The World Bank approved 700 million dollars in credit from the International Development Association (IDA) to scale up support for the financial sector. The funds are targeted at modernizing the regulatory and supervisory framework of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), supporting governance reforms, balance sheet restructuring, and recapitalization of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), and transforming the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) into a sustainable development finance institutio...


Radar

Gadaa Bank Expands Reach, Faces Lending Constraints

Gadaa Bank closed its first full fiscal year of operations with a net profit of 90.2 million Br. The 18-month-old Bank held its annual general assembly at Millenium Hall on Africa Avenue last week where the board announced that during the year, the Bank opened 15 branches and now has 85 operational branches. “Due to recently enacted policy measures on credit by NBE and unmet resource mobilization during the fiscal year, the Bank was unable to make loan disbursements,” stated Wolde Bulto,...