Ethiopia’s Revenue Collection Encouraging, Needs Sustainability: State Minister

Addis Ababa: Ethiopia has been showing encouraging trends in revenue collection recently, although this needs to be reinforced with the collaboration of the pertinent stakeholders, Revenues State Minister Meskerem Debebe said.The Ministry of Revenues held today a discussion with the small taxpayers of West Addis Ababa about the new macroeconomic reform and tax mobilization.Opening the discussion, the state minister noted that the encouraging trends in revenue collection recently need to be reinforced in collaboration with stakeholders.According to her, Ethiopia has been registering better achievement in revenue collection at the national level.However, the revenue is low when compared to the tax the country's economy can generate, Meskerem noted.Institutional capacity building in human resource, technology, and working system, among others, are instrumental in improving the tax collection trend, she said, adding that paying taxes on time needs attention.For the state minister, the contribution of loyal tax payer investors is significant for the country's growth as tax is one of the catalysts of a nation's inclusive growth.Tax Department Head at Ministry of Finance, Mulay Woldu said the recent macroeconomic reform is instrumental for taxpayers and citizens as it leads to a competitive economic development in the country.Covering the development and financing of the nation domestically through the increment of revenue collection capacity is one of the focuses of the reform, he said, adding that proper collection of revenue will allow the country for rapid and equitable growth and a stable macro-economy.He stressed the need to develop domestic source of revenues in order to achieve the national development plans and create a competitive environment.Source: Ethiopian News Agency