Uganda Revenue Authority Hits Target.

(From The Monitor (Uganda) - AAGM)

Byline: Badru D. Mulumba

It has gone down as the year when one of the nation's big stories went largely unnoticed.

If it can maintain its current momentum, the Uganda Revenue Authority could for the first time in several years hit its revenue target for the financial year ending June 30, 2002.

The revenue body collected Shs 323.85bn in taxes for the above quarter up by Shs 41.54bn from the same period last year, according to a ministry of finance performance report that The Monitor has seen.

Finance minister Gerald Ssendaula set a Shs 1,456.15bn target for URA this financial year. That is Shs 140.85bn higher than the Shs 1,315.30bn target last financial year.

The tax collection (July-September) is Shs 2.4bn short of a 326.25bn target or just 0.23 percent below target.

Compare that to the same time last year. Then, URA fell short of a Shs 307.4bn target by Shs 25bn or 4.9 percent.

Even the 0.23 percent shortfall this financial year was because the exchange rate did not confirm to budget assumptions.

It was Shs 1803.97 per US dollar, according to the report, which …