MRA collects less revenue

The Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) says gross tax revenues collected during the financial year 2014/15 to date amount to K309.9 billion which represents a 1.89 percent lower than its projection.

In a published statement on Wednesday, the revenue collecting body also said gross revenues collected during the month of February, 2015 amounted to K34.5 billion, a figure which represents a K3.3 billion under-collection as it targeted to collect K37.8 billion.

The underperformance, according to MRA, is due to the poor performance of customs taxes as they failed to meet the target of K2.9 billion.

Such an underperformance, however, comes deep into the budget aid dry spell as donors continue to withhold budget support following the revelations of Cashgate or massive plunder of public funds in September 2013.

The budget support suspension left government with a huge fiscal gap, prompting the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration to craft what it calls a zero-aid 2014/15 budget.

The analysis shows that a total of K1.95 billion was collected in the month of February from excise tax compared to a target of K4.5 billion.

“Both local excise and import excise were below their targets by 36.4 percent and 67 percent respectively. Local excise did not perform well due to continued court restraint on plastic products while import excise was down as a result of importation of few excisable products,” explains MRA.

It says at K3.2 billion, import duty registered a deficit of 21.6 percent below the monthly target of K4.1 billion due to a reduction in dutiable imports as key stations witnessed increased importation of relief items for flood victims.

On one hand, MRA says income and profits tax earned the institution K17.6 billion against a target of K16.9 billion, representing a 3.7 percent over-performance.

It says Pay As You Earn (Paye) performed above its target of K9.7 billion due to high compliance among employers who remitted Paye in good time.