Finance Minister Colm Imbert has issued a statement responding a newspaper editorial titled “Drowning in VAT bureaucracy” which centered on “tardiness in repaying VAT to companies”.

According to Mr Imbert, cash flow constraints, not bureaucracy, have resulted in a 1-month delay in completing this exercise.

He says oil and gas production being below estimated levels, coupled with depressed oil and gas prices in the latter half of 2024, meant that revenue collected by the Government in the last 3 months of 2024 was lower than expected.

As such, Mr Imbert says Government had to prioritize on its expenditure, by addressing urgent bills first and delaying VAT refunds.

He insists however that oil and gas prices recovered in November and December of 2024, while revenue collection from the Tax Amnesty has been on the uptick, which means there is now sufficient cash flow to fulfil VAT refunds to SMEs.

He adds that the Ministry intends to make good on its commitment and follow through on these refunds by the end of January 2025.