Customs revenues grow by $13 million for first two months of the year

The positive growth that has been experienced in the national economy is now
reflected in collections from the Customs Division for the first two months of the
year, 2024.
Comptroller of Customs, Raju Boddu, has revealed that the revenue for January
and February 2024 grew by 21.7 percent when compared with the same period last
year.
He disclosed that revenues up to the end of February totaled $78.4 million. This
compares with $64.3 million for the same period for 2023, a difference of $13.6
million. Asked what impact the rise in ABST has had on collections so far, the
Customs Comptroller said the impact has been minimum as the increase is
reflected ‘across the board’, meaning that every category of collections for the
division has had increases. He identified the categories as import duty, revenue
recovery charge (RRC), consumption tax and ABST.
He further revealed that the collections from ABST moved from $22.09 million in
2023, compared $25.98 million in 2024, an increase of $3.59 million or 18 percent.
Boddu attributes the increases in collection to the robust economy which Antigua
and Barbuda is currently experiencing. This growth has been confirmed by
external agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Eastern
Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB).
He indicated that the prognosis for the remainder of the year looks quite positive as
already March, up the 14 th of the month, had reflected approximately $4 million
more than was collected in by that time in March 2023.
The ABST rate moved from 15 to 17 percent, yet according to Boddu all other
categories of collections are up, including the ABST.