FBR says collected Rs5.15tr since July 2023, showing 30pc revenue growth

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Finance after correcting the official press statement said on Tuesday the FBR has collected revenue of Rs5,150 billion since July 2023 to mid of February 2024 against Rs3,973 billion over the same period of last FY — almost 30 percent revenue growth.

In the first press release, the figures were wrongly incorporated and used trillion instead of billion. The press release was rectified and shared with the media again with an accurate figure of Rs5,150 billion collection made so far. It was wrongly stated in the official statement the revenues of Rs5.15 trillion were collected from July to mid-February 2024. It was the collection of just first seven months from July 2023 to January 2024.

The Caretaker Minister for Finance, Dr Shamshad Akhtar, seemed interested in showing her performance. During the tenure of seven months under the dispensation of the caretaker government, four DG media were changed. There was not a single press release that was approved by the Ministry of Finance and shared with the media well within the stipulated timeframe because the approval took hours from the top notches of the Ministry of Finance on simple statements.

According to the press release issued by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, “FBR has collected revenue of Rs5,150 trillion since July 2023 to mid of February 2024 against Rs3,973 trillion over the same period last FY — almost 30pc tax revenue growth. During the course of this period, tax refunds grew by more than 28pc.

“Overall growth in the domestic taxes has been around 40pc, while import duty and related taxes grew by 16pc over July 2023 to January 2024 period. Growth in revenues gained momentum as GDP has revived and FBR collection has come under tighter scrutiny. “Notwithstanding, growth in import taxes fell largely because of (i) downward adjustments in import tariffs over the years, and (ii) more recently restrictions on import licences imposed by SBP to contain balance of payments position in the wake of foreign exchange constraints.