KRA headquartersThe Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has attributed the growth in customs taxes to crucial reforms undertaken at the customs and border control.
Customs is a tax imposed on goods brought into Kenya.
The taxman, in a statement, said customs taxes for January hit a historic monthly performance of Sh82.5 billion.
“This is a milestone in the history of customs,” said Customs and Border Control commissioner Lilian Nyawanda.
Customs kicked off the second half of the 2024/2025 financial year on an upward trajectory, after surpassing its January target of Sh74.4 billion by collecting a surplus of Sh8.11 billion, reflecting a performance rate of 110.9 per cent.
This performance, it said, represents a 27 per cent growth compared to the 4.8 per cent growth recorded in the first half of the financial year 2024/2025 (July-December 2024) period.
Some of the key changes introduced at the Customs office that saw this positive revenue performance include the establishment of the Centralised Release Operations.
Under this new process, release officers are stationed at a centralised location and allocated customs declarations randomly for release.
This approach has significantly resulted to a more objective release process: managing risks and improving revenue mobilization efforts.
Another key factor that contributed to the strong revenue performance was the growth in non-petroleum taxes of 11.6 per cent, compared to January 2024.
Petroleum taxes also had a strong performance, registering a growth of 55.9 per cent against the same period last year.
The growth in petroleum taxes was largely driven by a 6.6 per cent increase overall oil volumes, with a significant growth in petrol (89.7 per cent) and diesel (65.0 per cent) resulting in above-target performance across various tax heads, including VAT oil, excise duty oils, and fuel levies (PDL, RML, PRL, and RDL).
Nyawanda said these results reflect the ongoing commitment by KRA to improve revenue mobilization efforts and ensure that revenue targets are consistently met, contributing to the growth and stability of the nation’s economy.
