Sierra Leone Records Revenue Shortfall Of NLe674.7 M

Sierra Leone has recorded a revenue shortfall of NLe674.7 million which is equivalent to Le674.7 billion old Leones due to weak compliance.
This was made known by the Minister of Finance Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura during his delivery of the Government Supplementary Budget and Statement of Economic and Financial Policies in Parliament.
“Revenue collected from GST amounted to NLe1.4 billion, recording a shortfall of NLe674.7 million relative to the target due to weak compliance,” he stated.
The Minister stated that income Tax amounted to NLe3.5 billion and slightly exceeded its target due to strong performance in corporate tax, which more than offset the slight underperformance in personal income tax.
He maintained that customs and excise duties amounted to NLe1.9 billion, and recorded a shortfall of NLe134.7 million, due to weak collections of import duties and excise tax on domestically produced and imported goods.
He however noted that excise duty on petroleum products surpassed its target by NLe104.1 million, reflecting the benefits of the full-pass-through petroleum pricing formula.
That mineral revenue exceeded its target, mainly on account of iron ore royalties, which more than compensated for the low collection of royalties on other minerals and mining licenses.