The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has expressed satisfaction in its strategic partner, McKinsey & Co., an international consulting firm contracted to offer its expertise to help boost revenue generation.

Emmanuel Kofi Nti, the Commissioner-General of the Authority in an interview with JoyBusiness said the work done by the consultant so far paints a bright picture for 2019 revenue.

“The last quarter of the year we did well because they were offering good advice and helping us with the kind of work that we were doing; especially for the Customs area, the collections up to the end of the quarter weren’t that good,”

Speaking at sidelines of the Thanksgiving service of GCNet last Friday he said, “We have the belief that ending 2019, things should be far better than we experienced in 2018.”

The GRA boss says the Mckinsey group supported his outfit in 2018 with a 5.3% growth in October, 16.3% growth in November and 18.1% the year ended.

The country’s tax agency is, however, optimistic of meeting its revenue target projected at ¢45 billion if the consulting firm maintains its performance pace.

2019 revenue target

According to the 2019 annual expenditure estimates for the GRA, the total tax revenue projected for the year in review is ¢45 billion as against the 2018 revised budget of ¢38 billion.

By the end of the year, the Authority projects to have registered and issued Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TINs) to three million taxpayers to aid in mobilizing the monies.

McKinsey’s role

McKinsey’s role is to support the GRA in achieving its target in terms of the revenue.

The GRA from January 1 to August 31 last year collected ¢22.6 billion out of a targeted ¢24.46 billion, recording a deviation of ¢1.80 billion. It was against this backdrop that it saw the need for hiring the services of the consulting firm.

Mckinsey & Co. was contracted to train and build the skills of GRA staff and help develop a mindset of constant improvement through sourcing for ideas to change and improve the Authority.

McKinsey’s engagement was also to help change GRA’s systems to be comparable to the best in revenue administration in the world through simplified processes and innovation.

The GRA’s Commissioner-General has debunked assertions that the consulting firm has come to stay and to cause a drain on the public purse.

He has, however, assured that the group would exit the country as and when revenue take tactics see a major boost.