Guinea-Bissau’s customs revenues increase by 40 percent in 2022, compared to 2021, the Secretary of State for Budget and Fiscal Affairs, João Alberto Djata said on Thursday.
“In 2022, there was an increase in customs revenues of around 14.5 billion cfa francs (about 22 million euros) corresponding to almost 40% compared to 2021,” said the secretary of state, who was speaking at a ceremony to mark Customs Day in Bissau.
In his address, the secretary of State highlighted the resilience of the Directorate General of Guinean Customs, despite the “national and international context characterized by a slowdown in production and trade, caused by the covid-19 pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine.
João Alberto Djata stressed that the results achieved in 2022 are related to the reforms implemented, calling for continued efforts to protect citizens from “illicit trafficking”.
“Revenue mobilization requires officials to adopt ethical conduct. Apart from ethics and integrity discipline with the higher hierarchy is key,” the Secretary of State stressed. “I want to encourage customs authorities to apply disciplinary sanctions to eradicate practices that harm the interest of users and jeopardize the achievement of objectives,” he insisted.
The director-general of Customs, Doménico Sanca, defended a “coherent and efficient” system of administration and said that he would deepen the reforms with the aim of collecting more public revenue.