Kenyan H1 tax revenue up 16 pct, but below target

Kenya's tax revenues rose by 16.2 percent to 303.1 billion shillings in the first half of the 2010/11 fiscal year, but still fell short of its target for the period.

Revenue was 20 percent below Kenya's target of 380 billion shillings largely due to shortages of petroleum in east Africa's biggest economy.

The performance in this sector (petroleum) has been affected by storage capacity constraints as well as the rise in oil prices, which has reduced demand, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) head Michael Waweru told a news conference.

Petroleum taxes collected fell by 5 percent.

Waweru suggested tax collection may also be hampered in the next six months, saying: Drought may affect our performance for the second half. Kenya's economy relies on agriculture for much of its output.

Despite the problems, tax collections in the period between October to December grew 19 percent compared with the same period the year before.

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