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Aug 09, 2016 News

Guyana loses $20B through concessions granted by PPP Govt. – New GRA boss  

The effects of the concessions that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) government granted to favoured companies like BaiShanLin, are now being felt by the new government.
The Ministry of Finance has recorded a shortfall in the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT).
At a press conference yesterday, newly appointed Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Godfrey Statia, said that the main reason for the shortfall is the amount of concessions and waivers that were granted under the PPP/C government.
Statia said, “We inherited a lot of exemption granted by the previous administration.”
He said that during the first half of this year alone (between January and June) over $20B exemptions were utilized by the companies.
Another reason that caused the decline is the leakages at the different ports of entry. Statia said that the GRA will have to shift resources so that improvements can be made in this regard.
Further, Statia said, “At the domestic level we have to also shift resources into enforcement mode to go behind the business and make them comply.”
He continued, “So we are looking more at enforcement, compliance, investigation and further examinations so as to increase in the vat collections.”
Then, Statia said that the PPP/C had been falling back in the payment of VAT compliance during its last years in Office.
Statia said, “VAT refunds have not been paid timely for 2013, 2014 and 2015; these were inherited and we are trying to bring the system up to date.
The Commissioner General said that already, the new administration paid in excess of $2B in refunds. And by the end of the year another $3B is expected to be paid.
Minister of Finance Winston Jordan said, “All this inherited stuff is denying revenues to undertake current development.”

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