Kenya’s revenue collection leaps 19% to $1.1bln in July

Doubling of VAT on fuel to 16% from July 1 contributed to the increase

ZAWYA

Kenya. Modern buildings and skyscrapers downtown Nairobi. Getty Images

New tax measures and higher economic output in Kenya have driven the government’s revenue collection by 18.7% to 155.06 billion shillings ($1.07 billion) in July 2023, compared to 130.6 billion shillings a year earlier.

The July collections exceeded monthly collections in six of the 12 months in the financial year 2022/23, but fell 29.7% from the record 220.6 billion shillings collected in June, Business Daily newspaper reported, citing data from the National Treasury.

The Kenya Revenue Authority’s collection jumped following the doubling of value-added tax (VAT) on fuel to 16% from July 1. Other new taxes included a 1.5% housing levy on gross pay of all workers and increasing turnover tax to 3% to the current 1%.           

(Editing by Brinda Darasha; brinda.darasha@lseg.com)

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