THE government on Wednesday dismissed as unfounded claims that the country is losing huge amount of money through the newly introduced revenue collection systems.

"It's not true that there is huge loss of government revenues through the collection systems. The government's goal to strengthen the systems is to curb leakages, which existed in the past," Deputy Minister of State, President's Office, Finance and Planning Ali Suleiman Ameir told the House of Representatives here.

The deputy minister was responding to a question by Wawi Representative Bakar Hamad Bakar who wanted to know government interventions to protect public money, claiming that despite the establishment of various revenue collection systems, theft of government money remains rampant.

But, the government defended the systems, which it said, have boosted government revenue collections.

Mr Ameir said during the 2022/2023 fiscal year's three quarters, which ended on March 31, 2023, Zanzibar Revenue Authority (ZRA) collected 449.3bn/-, which is 97.6 per cent of its 460.5bn/- target. The collections also were an increase of 274.8bn/- or 63.5 per cent from the corresponding period in the 2021/2022 financial year.

The deputy minister further said Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Zanzibar office, recorded a 27 per cent growth in revenue collection during the period under review.

The revolutionary government is keen to put in place various control mechanisms to curb theft in public offices, he said.

He cited introduction of Chief Internal Auditor (CIA) Office, Controller and Auditor General (CAG) Office, Zanzibar Anti-corruption and Economic Crimes Authority (ZAECA), Zan-Malipo, Virtual Fiscal Management System (VFMS) and Zanzibar Integrated Domestic Revenue Administration Systems (ZIDRAS) as some of the government measures to check thievery.