The collaboration which came on Friday at Ecobank’s head office along Kairaba Avenue represents a unique and an evolutionary step in facilitating and making tax collection more effective and efficient by the authority.
Yankuba Darboe, acting commissioner general of the Gambia Revenue Authroity while thanking Ecobank for the partnership said the deal represents a unique approach to facilitate trade and as well make tax collection easier.
He added: “The board and management of GRA have a host of strategies geared towards trade facilitation and making tax collection effective, efficient, fair, and easy and at minimum cost for taxpayers. Utilising commercial banks has many advantages some of which are offering taxpayers the option to pay taxes and customs duties at any of the Ecobank branches, and easing the burden on taxpayers on the need to travel all the way to GRA headquarters in Banjul for payment, thus leading to saving cost and solving other constraints.”
Mr Darboe said in its quest to facilitate payment procedures, the authority is committed to extending the scheme to all banks that satisfy the requirements. He stated that the taxpayers should commence utilising the bank’s facilities for payment of their taxes.
Josephine Ankomah, the managing director of Ecobank said : “We consider this development a very significant milestone in our partnership with GRA and the government of The Gambia. We at Ecobank are committed to providing accessibility, convenience and reliability to our valued customers and this partnership gives us another opportunity to actualise this mission.”
Ankomah said that the deal which will provide tax collection service is not the first initiative the bank had undertaken with the authority.
She added: “Be assured that our well-trained staff and accessible branches are poised to provide efficient collection of payments from taxpayers,” she said. “To facilitate the prompt reconciliation of your accounts, we will deliver daily statements, electronically, to your offices at the close of every business day. We recommend to you our OMNI internet banking platform that allows you real time access to your accounts and enables you to move funds between your accounts with us at Ecobank or with other banks in The Gambia. We have put together a dedicated team, ready, willing and available to assist with any queries on this service.”
Other speakers at the ceremony include Mamour Malick Jagne, the chairman of the Board of Directors of GRA and Kebba Gaye, head of corporate banking at Ecobank.
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