The three main revenue collecting agencies; the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), have announced figures which are 29.5 percent over their collective target from January to May this year. Their total collection amounted to ¢11,022.03 trillion, as against the target of ¢10,956.22 trillion for the period. The annual target set for the year stands at ¢30 trillion. The good results come much against fears of significant shortfalls in the face of the distressing energy crisis that engendered increased cost of production which in turn was expected to affect the manufacturing, commercial and service industries. The IRS bagged a total of ¢3,047.04 trillion, as against its target of ¢2,759.21 trillion, representing a 10.4 percent positive variance. However, the VAT Service and CEPS posted marginal negative variances which did not affect the total collection. For instance, VAT raked in ¢1,719.88 trillion, as against its target of ¢1,809,42 trillion, while CEPS collected ¢6,255.11 trillion. Instead of the ¢6,387.68 trillion target. The Executive Secretary of the Revenue Collection Governing Board (RAGB), Mr Harry Owusu, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic, described the performance of the three agencies as impressive and refreshing, particularly in the wake of the energy crisis that has hit the country since August last year. The Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Paul Acquah, had indicated at the 14th Consultative Group Meeting of Ghana's development partners and the government that the early forecasts for 2007 suggested that there could be an even faster pace of growth of 6.5 percent this year. Last year, the country recorded a 6.2 percent growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in what was described as an environment of relatively subdued inflationary expectations and currency stability. Mr Owusu was, however, cautious in saying that although the performance was near the annual target figure of ¢30 trillion, there was still a lot of work to be done. He said the three agencies had put in a number of pragmatic measures to ensure that their collection was on course. The IRS, he said, had been persistent in exceeding its targets over the last couple of years and mentioned the introduction of income tax verification stickers for vehicles and other innovative strategies as the reasons for the good performance. On VAT, he said the Service had been proactive in recent times with its collection as it chased defaulters with distress notices which compelled them to honour their tax obligations according to the law. "This time round they do not wait until the end of the year to do so," he noted, describing that move as a positive one. For the month of May alone, the IRS collected ¢539.15 billion, as against the ¢508.48 billion target, representing a positive variance of six percent, while VAT recorded ¢337.80 billion, ¢8.33 billion short of its target. For May, CEPS also achieved slightly above the target, collecting ¢1,310 trillion, as against ¢1,286.20 trillion, representing a positive variance of 1.9 percent. Mr Owusu attributed the success of CEPS to increases in export volumes in May.