US Project to Boost Afghan Customs E-Payments Falling Severely Short of Goal, Report Shows
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is drastically trailing its goal to have Afghanistan collect 75 percent of its customs duties through e-payment by the end of November 2017, as a report by the Office of the Special Inspector…
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General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) found that the nation was collecting only 0.59 percent of duties electronically at the end of December 2016. Dated Aug. 17, the report states that USAID has told SIGAR that it will complete a “root cause analysis” of the shortcoming by Aug. 31. USAID, in consultation with Chemonics, its implementing partner in USAID’s Afghanistan Trade and Revenue program, established the goal to reach the 75 percent level by the end of a planned $77.8 million project lasting from November 2013 through November 2017, the report says. USAID officials have suggested that “eliminating or significantly stemming” corruption in Afghanistan’s customs process could double the country’s customs revenue.