Tanzania gov’t collects over Sh90 billion through tracking phone transactions
What you need to know:
Revenues amounting to over Sh90 billion has been collected by the government following the launch of the Telecommunication Traffic Monitoring System ( TTMS).
Dar es Salaam. The government has collected at least Sh97.16 billion revenues by tracking the mobile money transactions, domestic and international calls.
This was said today, Thursday May 30, by the Director of Information Services, Dr Hassan Abbas while addressing journalists in Dar es Salaam.
According to him, tracking of mobile money transactions has been made possible after the establishment of the Telecommunication Traffic Monitoring System (TTMS) which was installed in 2013 at the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), but became operational in 2014.
The TCRA officially acquired the TTMS from a developer -consortium of the companies the SGC/GVG of Switzerland.
Dr Abbas who doubles as government's spokesperson further revealed that the government has managed to increase tax collections from gold from Sh173 million to Sh588 million per month after the establishment of gold auction markets in some parts of the country including Chunya, Geita, to mention a few.
According to him, Tanzania now has 24 gold auction markets located in different parts of the country and the government is determined to improve the tax collections from gold.
"The establishment of the gold auction markets was a result of President John Magufuli's directive that he issued during his official tour of Chunya" said Dr Abbas.
Dr Abbas also revealed that the production of gold has increased in the country, citing that at Chunya gold mine, the production has increased from 29 kg to 100.2 kg per month.
Referring to the construction of Mirerani mines perimeter wall whose construction was also ordered by President Magufuli during his visit there in September 2017, Dr Abbas revealed that since the construction of the wall, there has been an increase of both Tanzanite production and revenues.
"In 2016, 164 kg of Tanzanite was mined and the government earned only Sh71 billion per year. But, at the present, at least 1086 kg of Tanzanite is mined per year and the revenue has increased tremendously, “said Dr Abbas.
He added: "Following the recent general reforms in the Mining sector including the amendment of the Mining Act, the government has managed to collect Sh302 billion in revenue in the past 11 months."
