The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service collected a net revenue of $154 million in January 2022, outperforming the forecast by $9.5 million or 6.5 percent.
The positive revenue collections against the forecast in December 2021 and January 2022 has led to a cumulative six-month collection from August 2021 to January 2022 of $781.5 million resulting in a positive variance of $17.4 million or 2.3 percent.
FRCS says the forecast for January 2022 was $144.5 million.
This is the second consecutive month where the actual revenue collected by FRCS has surpassed the forecast.
The net revenue collected in December 2021 was $190 million compared to the forecast revenue of $130 million.
FRCS Chief Executive Officer Mark Dixon attributed the strong revenue performance to the recommencement of international tourism and its positive spill-over effects, in terms of business confidence, on other sectors of the economy.
Dixon says there has been a significant growth in consumption related taxes including Domestic VAT, Import VAT, Fiscal Duty and Domestic Excise Duty in January 2022.
Domestic VAT recorded a total collection of $43.9 million in January and is the highest in the past 18 months.
Dixon says this is largely from improved economic activity in December 2021 coupled with the re-opening of the international border and high festivity spending.
The improved economic activity has also increased demand for imported products thus resulting in high Import VAT and Fiscal Duty collections. He says recommencement of international tourism has also seen a substantial increase in the Departure Tax collection.
Departure Tax collection in January 2022 was $1.1 million compared to the overall collection of $1 million in the 2020-2021 financial year.
Dixon says given the improved economic conditions, collections are expected to maintain a positive trend and recent indicators suggest a more positive outlook for 2022.
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