By: Kemo Kanyi
Seedy Keita, the Finance Minister of The Gambia, has outlined mechanisms utilised by the government that boosted the country’s economic growth over the years.
Mr Keita said increased infrastructure investment, enhanced macroeconomic and fiscal management, along with improvement in infrastructure, human capital, financial deepening, and trade openness, have contributed to growth and positive gains from 2017 to date. He added, “Consequently, The Gambia’s economic growth has surpassed the African average during this period.”
He said his testimony was to the consistent efforts made by the government to maintain the country’s macroeconomic stability and mitigate the effects of shocks on citizens.
“Our revenue collection has increased from $7.1 billion in 2017 to $20.8 billion in 2024, almost a threefold increase over the last seven years. This result was supported by strategic reforms to improve the tax administration and projects.
However, he stated that the tax collection remained at 11.2% of GDP compared to the substandard African average of 16%, which means that there is still more potential to improve the country’s revenue collection without imposing a burden on citizens. He mentioned that digitalisation and enhanced compliance will broaden the tax base whilst boosting domestic resource mobilisation by the government.
“We are therefore pursuing an ambitious reform agenda in this region to exploit the country’s food potential and strengthen the capacity of our country to keep investing in hybrid sectors to make the economy more resilient and more inclusive by creating more and better jobs, raising household incomes, and reducing poverty.
Minister Keita assured that the government is committed to pursuing the reforms needed to further boost productivity and underpin the structural transformation of The Gambia’s economy.