A sluggish global forecast and a black economy are been attributed to a drop in Fiji’s revenue collections.

Fiji Revenue and Customs Service CEO Visvanath Das says Fiji is not immune to the effects of global market performances and with the prevalence of cash transactions, a black economy is more apparent.

In a submission before the Public Accounts Committee, Das says revenue collection for the 2017/2018 financial year hit two point eight billion dollars which decreased the following year because of these factors.

“So even if you know you looked at currently the global economic slowdown you know has some impact on the Fijian economy as well and therefore as tax is a function of GDP is going to reflect that. And I think you know 2018, 2019, I should not rule out the fact that we still need to work in the black economy space.”

Das adds the FRCS are however working to curb the black economy with the implementation of the VAT monitoring system.