Islamabad: Advisor to the Prime Minister (PM) on Finance and Revenue Dr Hafeez Shaikh on Wednesday said that the government had successfully collected PKR 580 billion in taxes against the target of PKR 644 billion, a news source reported.
He expressed his views on the matter during a press conference held in Islamabad. Federal Minister for Planning and Reforms Khusro Bakhtiar, Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar, Adviser to the PM on Commerce and Textile, Investment and Industries Razak Dawood, Special Assistant to the PM Nadeem Babar and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Shabbar Zaidi were all present at the occasion.
Dr Shaikh explained that since the government had achieved stability on the external accounts during the past year, the economy has begun moving in a positive direction.
He added that there had been considerable growth in exports, which grew from USD 2.01 billion during first two months of the last year to USD 2.23 billion this year, while imports declined from USD 5 billion to USD 4.1 billion. This means that the overall current account deficit of the country has reduced by 7.3%, he added.
He said that revenue collection had also increased from Rs509 billion during the first two months of the last year to Rs580 billion during the current year; showcasing a 25% increase. Moreover, he expressed the hope that the government would achieve the growth rate target of 2.4% set for this fiscal year.
