The collapse of banks had a massive impact on our revenue - GRA

Chief Revenue Officer of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Richard Quainoo, has disclosed that the collapse of some indigenous banks in Ghana hurt the Authority’s revenue.

He made this revelation in an exclusive interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show.

Explaining this occurrence, he said: “Collapse of banks had a massive impact on our revenue. We have the large taxpayers’ office and the medium taxpayers’ office as well as the small taxpayers’ office. About seventy to eighty percent (70-80%) of tax comes from the large taxpayers’ office. So if those at the large taxpayers’ bracket are no more, it is something that will bother us. So the collapse of banks affected us”.

According to him, certain government policies may affect their projections for the year. But most times, they inform the government of how its policies may affect the Ghana Revenue Authority and then the needed revisions are made.

He made known that while the GRA has a say in certain government policies that may affect their revenues, the issue on the collapse of banks was a completely different issue for the government that did not need the GRA’s involvement. Richard stated that even before the collapse of the banks, the GRA had already made its projections.

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) in 2017 embarked on a comprehensive reform agenda to strengthen the regulatory and supervisory framework for a more resilient banking sector.

While some banks had their licences revoked, others have been merged for their inability to raise the new 400 million-cedi minimum capital requirement as of December 31, 2018.