The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) customs revenue in January reached a historic monthly high of Ksh 82.6 billion surpassing the target by Ksh 8.1 billion.
The authority says the January collection registered a performance rate of 110.9pc after surpassing the Ksh 74.4 billion the authority had targeted to collect during the period.
Commissioner for Customs and Border Control Dr Lilian Nyawanda says the performance which represents a 27pc growth compared to the 4.8pc growth recorded in the first half of the financial year 2024/2025 (July- December 2024) period is as a result of reforms the authority has undertaken.
“This positive revenue performance is attributed to reforms within Customs, including the establishment of the Centralised Release Operations. Under this new process, release officers are stationed at a centralized location and allocated customs declarations randomly for release. This approach has significantly resulted to a more objective release process of managing risks and improving revenue mobilisation efforts,” said Dr Nyawanda.
During the month non-petroleum taxes grew by 11.6pc when compared to January 2024 while petroleum taxes also grew by 55.9pc during the period.
“This growth in Petroleum taxes was largely driven by a 6.6pc increase overall oil volumes, with a significant growth in petrol 89.7pc and diesel 65pc resulting in above-target performance across various tax heads, including VAT oil,
excise duty oils, and fuel levies (Petroleum Development Levy, Roads Maintenance Levy and Railway Development Levy),” she added.
By Ronald Owili
