Gambia’s digital tax overhaul boosts revenue by 127% in three years 📈 🇬🇲

Cliquez ici pour lire en français

Gambia is reporting an unusual fiscal turnaround, and officials say digitization is behind it. Over three years, the country’s tax revenue reportedly climbed from 11 billion dalasi (approx. 88.3 billion CFA francs) to 25 billion dalasi (approx. 206,1 billion CFA francs) in 2025 — a 127% increase.

Going digital, one tax at a time 💻

The numbers were announced by Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Seedy Keita on the show Coffee Time with Peter Gomez. According to Keita, the jump is directly tied to the digitization of the country’s administrative services — not to any broad tax hike.

Several digital tools reportedly helped plug revenue leaks nationwide. The ASYCUDA World system streamlines customs management, while digital tax stamps and fuel-marking technology have tightened control over commercial flows. Digitization also extended to rental income taxation and electronic VAT invoicing. The telecom sector wasn’t spared either, with modernized revenue-assurance mechanisms now in place.

A unified system to close the leaks 🔒

The Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) is reportedly planning to go further with an Integrated Tax Administration System, or ITAS. Under the platform, taxpayers will be able to register, file, and pay their taxes online — a shift expected to cut administrative burden and reduce errors. Officials say it should also make it easier to distinguish compliant taxpayers from those who aren’t, as fiscal data tracking becomes more centralized.

Keita was emphatic about the scale of the results: « Every reform we introduced has produced remarkable results. In several cases, revenue increased by more than 100%, which shows there were leaks in these sectors. »

International institutions are taking notice 🌍

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank reportedly praised the strategy, notably during the approval of Gambia’s fifth review under the Extended Credit Facility and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility.

Building on these results, Gambia’s government is now targeting 27.5 billion dalasi (roughly 220.8 billion CFA francs, per TechGriot’s own conversion) for 2026. Digitization platforms continue to be rolled out nationally, cementing technology’s central role in the country’s fiscal strategy.

Do you think digitization can genuinely put an end to tax leaks across Africa, or are deeper structural reforms needed to lock in these gains? Let us know in the comments.