The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service collected net income of $154 million in January 2022, beating forecast by $9.5 million or 6.5%.

Positive revenue compared to the December 2021 and January 2022 forecast led to a cumulative collection over six months from August 2021 to January 2022 of $781.5 million, resulting in a positive variance of $17.4 million or 2.3%.

The FRCS says the forecast for January 2022 was $144.5 million.

This is the second month in a row where actual revenue received by FRCS has exceeded forecasts.

Net revenue collected in December 2021 was $190 million compared to forecast revenue of $130 million.

FRCS chief executive Mark Dixon attributed the strong revenue performance to the recovery in international tourism and its positive spillover effects, in terms of business confidence, on other sectors of the economy.

Dixon says there was significant growth in consumption-related taxes including domestic VAT, import VAT, fiscal duties and domestic excise duties in January 2022.

Domestic VAT recorded a total collection of $43.9 million in January and is the highest in the past 18 months.

Dixon says this is largely due to improved economic activity in December 2021, coupled with the reopening of the international border and high holiday spending.

Improved economic activity has also increased the demand for imported products, leading to high collection of import VAT and tax duties. He says the recovery in international tourism has also seen a substantial increase in departure tax collection.

The January 2022 departure tax collection was $1.1 million compared to the overall collection of $1 million in fiscal year 2020-21.

Dixon says that given improving economic conditions, collections should maintain a positive trend and recent indicators suggest a more positive outlook for 2022.