Harare, (New Ziana) – The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) said on Friday gross revenue collections amounted to $90.62 billion in the first quarter of 2021, exceeding set target by 4.73 percent.

Government had tasked Zimra to collect at least $86.52 billion in the first three months of the year.

Zimra vice-board chairperson, Josephine Matambo said the growth in collections, despite the Covid-19 pandemic complications, was in part due to inflation and strategies the agency has put in place to ensure compliance.

“All revenue heads grew positively in Q1 2021 when compared to the same period last year, though some revenue heads missed their current quarterly targets,” she said.

“The growth in revenue has been mostly attributed to revenue enhancement measures undertaken by the authority and inflationary pressures affecting pricing models of goods and services in the economy.”

Net collections totalled $88.26 billion after deduction of refunds amounting to $2.35 billion.

“After adjusting for inflation, net revenue grew by 86.78 percent in Q1, 2021 as compared to the same period in 2020,” said Matambo.

Carbon tax at 1 269 percent growth, mining royalties at 199 percent, companies’ tax at 159 percent and individual tax 100 percent increase, were among the top performing revenue heads.

Revenue enhancement strategies that were put in place during the period, according to Matambo, included a rigorous and aggressive publicity on the agency’s online services and tax due dates, foreign currency awareness campaign project targeting errant businesses, effective debt management and pre-clearance checks for goods.

She said improvements in the economic environment including stability of the exchange rate were expected to boost productivity and industrial capacity utilisation in the outlook.

“Such developments are expected to enhance the revenue generation capacity for most tax heads, thereby the levels of tax revenue,” Matambo said.

“Zimra will continue intensifying automation of processes and improving the delivery of online services. Revenue collections are expected to remain positive in light of the various revenue enhancement initiatives Zimra has initiated, especially the drive to tap into the digital economy, which has been growing tremendously.”

Zimbabwe’s government funds over 90 percent of its budget from revenue collections.
New Ziana