MOGADISHU (Halbeeg)- The domestic revenue of Somali government has increased 85% in the last six months paving the way for obtaining sustainable and reliable revenue, Finance ministry said.
The Somali government has been working to establish legal and technical capacities for revenue generation since last year.
Speaking to the media in Mogadishu, Somali Minister for Finance, Abdirahman Duale Beileh confirmed that his ministry increased the income revenue which a very important benchmark for the roadmap to get a sustainable future for the country.
“The domestic revenue has increased 85% for the last six months. It was from low level to this stage, soon we are expecting to cover all the financial needs of the government,” Mr. Beileh said.
Mr. Beileh said the Finance ministry has been assigned to collect all the revenues.
Different ministries and government departments had initially been carrying out the collection of the taxes before channelling them to the finance ministry.
“We have successfully managed to bring all the taxes used to be collected by other ministries and courts under the Ministry of Finance,” he boasted.
According to a report by the Ministry early this year, the domestic revenue was up to $141 million in 2017 from $110 million in 2016 as some progress was made last year to improve the revenue.
The tax agreements have been reached with airlines and telecom companies, and an income tax exemption for parliamentarians has been reversed last year, giving the government more revenue.
The government is struggling to pay its external debt of about $5.2 billion, according to the IMF.
Somalia has not made a service or amortization payment since civil war broke out more than 25 years ago.
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