Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue failed to achieve revenue collection target of Rs 705 billion during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, according to data available with Daily Times.

The data revealed that the FBR missed the revenue collection target by Rs 81 billion, as it could collect only Rs 624 billion against the set target of Rs 705 billion during the first three months of the current fiscal year.

The FBR had missed the target of tax collection last year too, forcing the federal government to impose Rs 40 billion extra taxes on more than 350 household items.

Of the collected revenue during the first quarter, Rs 246 billion came under the head of income tax, 257 billion sales taxes, Rs 31 billion federal excise duty and Rs 99 billion as customs duty. The FBR had collected Rs 246 billion income tax, 258 billion sales taxes, Rs 28 billion federal excise duty and Rs 81 billion customs duty in the corresponding period last year.

The government has also been unable to control the fast falling exports as Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data revealed that country’s exports dipped by 7.81 percent, or $273 million to $3.221 billion during July-August, as compared to $3.494 billion in the corresponding period last year.

However, the country’s imports witnessed an increase of 2.44 percent, or $166 million, during the same period, which stood at $6.969 billion as compared to last year’s $6.803 billion.

Government also had to face unease in the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) that reduced by 53.2 percent to $112.6 million during July-August as compared to last year’s $224.8 million, showing a decrease of $128.2 million.