Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Senator Ishaq Dar has stated that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is set to achieve revenue target of Rs 3,100 billion this year.

While speaking at the pre-budget seminar here on Saturday, Dar that this constitutes 56 per cent increase in revenue collection during the last three years as collection stood at Rs 1,946 billion in 2013.

He said that a number of measures were taken during these years to expand tax net. He said that one-third Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) were withdrawn during the first year of the incumbent government, one-third during current year and the remaining would be withdrawn during next budget.

He said that fiscal deficit, which stood at 8.8 per cent of the GDP in 2013, has been brought down to four per cent this year. He said from the very beginning of the tenure of the incumbent government discretionary funds of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were abolished.

The minister said that the government was pursuing policy of three E’s, including economy, energy and extremism, to build strong foundations for national progress and development.

He invited all the political parties to give their inputs for preparing a concrete roadmap for strengthening economy. He also stressed for reaching a charter of economy in the line of charter of democracy.

Dar said that the government believed in consultations, and all the positive suggestions would be included in the budgetary proposals.