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Taxes accounted for 96 percent of Central Govt. revenue last year
Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh.
Kaieteur News – According to Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, who presented the 2021 Budget yesterday in the National Assembly, Central Government’s revenue for 2020 totalled $227.4 billion. The Minister was keen to note that tax collection accounted for 96 percent of this revenue, amounting to $218.3 billion.
Dr. Singh said that the increase in tax revenue above the 2020 Budget estimate was the result of higher-than-projected collections from internal revenue and excise taxes, which grew by $6 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively. As it relates to internal revenue, the Minister said that this was higher on account of larger-than-expected collections from private sector corporation tax and PAYE, which were $3.7 billion and $1.3 billion respectively above the budget forecast.
The Minister was keen to note as well that the increase in excise tax collections above the budget projection is mainly the result of higher-than-anticipated collections from the importation of petroleum products and motor vehicles. In contrast, he told members of the House that collections from VAT (net of refunds) were $2.8 billion lower than the Budget 2020 projection, on account of lower collections from both imported goods and domestically supplied goods of $2.4 billion and $368.3 million respectively. Similarly, Minister Singh said that customs and trade tax collections were below the 2020 forecast by $1.3 billion, largely attributed to lower collections of import duties. As for non-tax revenues for 2020, this totalled $9.1 billion. The variance when compared with 2020 could be attributed to lower dividends received from the non-financial public enterprise, the official expressed.
Turning his attention to Central Government expenditure for 2020, Dr. Singh said that this totalled $325.5 billion, $5.2 billion above the allocation provided for in Budget 2020. When compared with the Budget 2020 estimate, he said that non-interest expenditure was $1.6 billion higher than expected, on account of larger outlays on other goods and services and transfer payments. Dr. Singh said that the increase in other goods and services was mainly on account of the payment of $6 billion for electricity arrears owed by various government agencies. He noted as well that the growth in transfer payments arose from the roll out of COVID-19 relief and support cash grant.
As regards interest payments, he said that these were $394.9 million lower than the projection made at the time of Budget 2020.
In conclusion, Minister Singh said that capital expenditure reached $76.1 billion at the end of 2020.
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