The Minister of Finance, Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura, led a delegation on August 11, 2025, to conduct unannounced inspections of the digital excise stamp system at various beverage and water production facilities. The delegation included deputy ministers, board members, the chair of the National Revenue Authority (NRA), and senior staff from both the NRA and Ministry of Finance.
This initiative follows the government’s introduction in 2024 of mandatory Digital Excise Tax Stamps on certain goods such as tobacco, wine, spirits, and beer. The measure was established under Section 37 of the Finance Act 2019 to ensure that all excisable goods—whether produced locally or imported—carry an official stamp. The stamps are intended to reduce counterfeit products and illicit trade while improving tax collection.
Despite these efforts, domestic revenue for the first half of 2025 has fallen short by nearly NLe1.0 billion compared to projections. In his recent FY 2025 Supplementary budget speech, Minister Bangura stated: “domestic revenue collected for the first half of 2025 was lower than projected with a shortfall of close to NLe1.0 billion for the year as a whole.” He also announced plans to reconcile data from N-SOFT and SICPA technologies with taxpayer submissions to improve assessment and collection processes.
During their visits to companies including GVR Bottlers, Kings Beverages, Sierra Fruits, Victory Enterprises, and Shankadas Group, officials observed that some plants had installed automated SICPA systems while others used manual stickers. However, they found challenges in fully implementing the stamping process. According to findings during these inspections: “the full implementation of the stamping process was challenging for several reasons, including deliberate attempts by manufacturers of locally produced beverages to evade tax payment.”
As a result of these checks, the team recommended that management at the National Revenue Authority close down Shankadas Group at Ferry Junction and Victory Enterprises at Wellington pending further review.
The Ministry indicated that additional monitoring exercises are planned as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen compliance with excise tax laws.