ISLAMABAD
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is facing another uphill task of collecting Rs346 billion in December to meet International Monetary Fund's target after missing the first quarter (July-September) target by Rs40 billion.
The IMF had set Rs750 billion revenue collection target for the FBR for second quarter (October to December) of the ongoing financial year 2015-2016. The FBR has so far collected Rs444 billion during October and November and would have to collect Rs346 billion in the month of December to meet the IMF's target of Rs750 billion.
"We are working to achieve the target of Rs750 billion, as additional revenue generation measures will help in achieving the target," said an official of the FBR talking to The Nation. He claimed that FBR had missed the first quarter target due to decline in oil prices in international market.
The FBR had already missed the first quarter target of Rs640 billion by Rs40 billion, which forced the government to impose new taxes. The government, on the direction of IMF, had taken taxation measures of Rs40 billion from December 1, 2015
The IMF had set quarterly revenue collection targets of Rs640 billion for July-September, Rs750 billion for October to December, Rs716 billion for January to March and Rs998 billion for April to June to achieve mammoth annual target of Rs3104 billion.
From July 2015 to November 2015, FBR made a net collection of more than Rs 1044 billion as against net collection of Rs 904 billion made last year, resulting in an increase of 15%. Up to October 2015, this increase was at 12%. This is after having issued refunds of Rs36 billion as against Rs 34 billion issued during first five months of last year. The FBR collected Rs397 billion as direct taxes, Rs482 billion as sales taxes, Rs57 billion as federal excise duty and Rs143 billion as custom duty.
The government has already missed the first quarter budget deficit target of Rs306 billion due to the FBR's failure and sought a waiver from the IMF Board in this regard. The country's budget deficit was recorded at Rs328.2 billion (1.1 per cent of the GDP), as expenditures stood at Rs1265.2 billion against the revenues of Rs 937 billion during July-September, according to the latest figures of the Ministry of Finance.
Pakistan will have to restrict budget deficit at Rs625 billion (2.03 percent of the GDP) during first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year under the IMF's conditions.