Jaber: Digitization is a tool to improve revenue collection and simplify transactions

Minister of Finance Yasin Jaber held a comprehensive work meeting dedicated to reviewing progress in revenue collection, treasury operations, digitization, and the development of services provided to taxpayers, as well as identifying obstacles still affecting certain procedures and the solutions needed to overcome them.

The meeting included the General Director of Finance, Ziyad Al-Shaikh, the Treasury Director Rana Karam, the Imports Director Muhammad Wafaa, and Advisor Claudine Karki, along with specialized officials and staff from both directorates.

In the revenue file, progress in expanding electronic permits and services and transferring more operations to the electronic system was presented, reducing manual transactions and improving data accuracy. The discussion also covered enhancing reconciliation processes and automatically linking payments to tax liabilities.

Regarding the treasury file, as a core component in managing public funds, the meeting focused on improving information flow between the treasury, tax administrations, and payment entities, accelerating reconciliation and enabling more precise identification of paid amounts. Discussions highlighted increased use of electronic payment channels, including foreign currency payments, and growing taxpayer confidence in these methods, while working to address remaining technical and operational constraints limiting full utilization.

In the backlog file, the meeting addressed a plan to resolve accumulated cases from previous years, alongside developing new systems and procedures to prevent recurrence in the future.

After examining the current situation, stages of progress, and listening to feedback, Minister Jaber emphasized the "need to move from diagnosing problems to resolving them within clear timelines and with direct follow-up on implementation," affirming that "digitization is not an end in itself, but a means to improve revenue collection, simplify transactions for citizens and taxpayers, and enhance the efficiency of the state's financial administration."

These meetings are part of a series of internal work sessions conducted by Jaber to monitor the performance of ministry departments and directorates, directly assess their needs and challenges, and accelerate resolution of files while keeping pace with the implementation of adopted steps and measures.