September 2025 marks a month of notable achievement for the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) as their customs tax collections hit an outstanding record of KES 85.146 billion. This amount greatly exceeds the previous record that was set in January 2025 of KES 82.554 billion.
According to KRA, the amount collected in September surpassed the set target for September 2025 of KES 81.341 billion by KES 3.806 billion, resulting in a performance rate of 104.7% and marking a 18.8% year-on -year growth compared to the same period in the previous year.
Petroleum, Trade Taxes, Boost KRA’s Performance
The high collection of customs taxes was propelled by strong collections from petroleum and trade taxes. The trade taxes contributed a total of KES 51.737 billion of the whole collection. This particular segment of taxes exceeded its set target of KES 50.739 billion, marking a 22.1% growth compared to the previous year and also resulting in a performance rate of 102.0%. Nevertheless, the petroleum taxes collection record was KES 33.408 billion which also exceeded its set target of KES 30.602 billion, reflecting a remarkable performance rate of 109.2%.
According to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), performance has been significantly improved through reforms aimed at boosting revenue collection. A key initiative was the creation of a centralized release operations office, where head verification officers work centrally and randomly assign release stations to verify and clear goods. This system minimizes human interaction, effectively closing potential revenue loopholes and enhancing cargo release turnaround times.
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