Kenya lost about $2.7 billion in the past three years due to its tax exemption policy, John Njiraini (photo) Commissioner General of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), said in an interview with Bloomberg.

According to the official’s statements relayed by the American media, the country loses between Ksh85 billion and Ksh90 billion ($840.9-$890.4 million) every year.

This situation is notably due to the government’s tax exemption scheme with, notably, the introduction of a VAT tax exemption on projects financed by international investors. This VAT exemption was implemented in the framework of reforms initiated to change the 2013 law on VAT taxes that had considerably reduced the number of duty-free and tax exempted products.

"We need to go back to the normal system, where all transactions pass through the tax net and if you have certain social motivations,"  Mr. Njiraini said.

Let’s note that the official's words are issued just days after World Bank expressed its concerns over the drop of the ratio of tax revenues to GDP in the country. According to figures from the International Monetary Fund, this ratio was 18% in 2014 but, this year, it dropped to 16%.

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou