ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) witnessed a 2.99 per cent growth in revenue collection in the first month of this fiscal year compared with July 2013.

In absolute terms, the revenue collection rose by Rs4bn to reach Rs138 billion in July from Rs134bn collected during the same month last year.

In the budget 2014-15, the government has projected a revenue collection target of Rs2.810 trillion as against Rs2.266tr collected in last fiscal year, an increase of 24pc.

FBR’s official spokesman Shahid Husain Asad told Dawn that July’s low growth was due to long Eid holidays. He said the ports remained closed for at least 10 days.

The revenue collection under the head of income tax grew by 23.95pc to Rs47bn in July as against Rs37.921bn a year earlier.

The highest growth recorded in the collection of income tax was the outcome of the revenue measures taken in the last budget, including withholding taxes.

Published in Dawn, Aug 6th, 2014