Tax revenues have generated 22.4 billion Br in December, around five percent more than the targeted amount and over four billion Birr higher than what was collected over the same period last year. The Ministry of Revenues managed to collect around 12.4 billion Br from domestic taxes, overshooting its intended target of 10.7 billion Br and exhibiting a growth of 43.5pc from the same period last year. It targeted to bring in 3.5 billion Br in direct taxes, but collected over 7.7b Br, posting a 4.1 billion Br upside from the amount recorded the previous year. Almost five times the planned amount of corporate tax was collected, contributing significantly to the huge surplus, according to the Ministry. The Ministry planned to collect over seven billion Birr in indirect taxes but only managed 4.6 billion Br, a 7.5pc decline from last year. Additionally, it gathered 3.3 billion Br in customs tax, significantly lower than the 3.9 billion Br it intended to collect. The Ministry also fell short of its goals to collect 1.3 billion Br in excise tax and 2.1 billion Br in surtax, registering only 800 million Br and 1.8 billion Br, respectively. Import VAT accounted for 3.3 billion Br of the revenues. The report also shows that the Ministry earned around 344.7 million Br from confiscating contraband goods and illicit money over the reporting period. The goods include smuggled vehicles, clothes, electronics and tobacco products, as well as drugs, food and beverages.