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The Minister of Finance, Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura led a high-level delegation to conduct unannounced inspections of the implementation of digital excise stamps on imported and locally produced goods.
The visit, held on Monday, August 11th, 2025, aims to enhance domestic revenue generation, particularly in light of recent shortfalls.
The delegation included deputy ministers, NRA board members, the chair of the National Revenue Authority (NRA), and senior management from both the NRA and the Ministry of Finance.
The inspections are part of the government’s ongoing efforts to enforce the mandatory Digital Excise Tax Stamps introduced in 2024, as stipulated by Section 37 of the Finance Act 2019.
The legislation requires that excise stamps be affixed to all specified excisable goods, such as tobacco, wine, spirituous beverages, and beer, regardless of their origin.
Minister Bangura emphasized the importance of this initiative, which is designed to protect consumers from counterfeit and substandard products while improving the effectiveness of excise taxation.
The goal is to create a fair competitive environment for manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers, and to combat smuggling and fraud in the excise goods market.
Despite those measures, the Minister noted a significant revenue shortfall in the first half of 2025, with collections falling short by nearly NLe1.0 billion.
In response, he outlined strategies to reconcile data from N-SOFT and SICPA technologies with taxpayer submissions to improve assessments of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and excise revenues.
During the visits, the delegation assessed the functionality of the Digital Excise Stamping system operated by SICPA at various production facilities, including GVR Bottlers, Kings Beverages, Sierra Fruits, Victory Enterprises, and Shankadas Group. While some plants had successfully implemented the automated stamping system, others were still relying on manual stickers.
The team discovered challenges in the full implementation of the stamping process, including attempts by some local beverage manufacturers to evade tax obligations.
In light of those findings, the delegation recommended that the NRA take immediate action to close the premises of both Shankadas Group at Ferry Junction and Victory Enterprises at Wellington.
Thank you Minister Bangura for your unwavering commitment for starting monitoring these factories
We are also expecting them, to inspect the Chinese meaning companies who are operating in Sierra Leone. For the past two years now, their vehicles, Frontend Loader and Excavators are in the bushes with out number plate. Some are evening operating without mining license. Treating Sierra Leonean badly as if we are still in the 1912.