Raise VAT from 7.5% to 10% - Finance Minister urges incoming government

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, has urged the incoming government to increase the Value Added Tax, VAT.

The minister said that increasing VAT from the current 7.5 % to 10 %, would stimulate the country's economic growth. Zainab Ahmed made the call during a courtesy visit to the headquarters of VON in Abuja.

Ahmed said:

"VAT was one of the ways to increase revenue and we still have to increase VAT because at 7.5 per cent, Nigeria has the lowest VAT rate in the world, not in Africa, in the world. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the Africa average is 18 per cent, when you increase your VAT, your Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will grow."

She noted that the government had used the finance bills to block leakages, and strengthen the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service adding that the government has also done automation of the two institutions through the process.