ISLAMABAD: The revenue collection witnessed 14.6 per cent year-on-year growth in March owing to an increase in the prices of petroleum products.

It amounted to Rs340bn last month against Rs297bn collected over the corresponding month of the preceding year, according to provisional figures available with Dawn.

However, the revenue collection missed the target by Rs10bn as it was projected to be Rs350bn in March. The shortfall was attributed to lower income tax and customs duty collection during the month under review.

In July-March, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collected Rs2,258bn against Rs2,093bn a year ago, reflecting an increase of 7.88pc.

The government has set a revenue collection target of Rs3,620.8bn for the year ending June 30, 2017. The FBR will have to collect revenue to the tune of Rs1,362.8bn in the next three months.

A tax official said it will be difficult for the government to achieve the target in the last quarter of 2016-17. The government will have no option but to revise the revenue target downward, the official added.

The FBR blamed the shortfall on the Ministry of Finance, which did not consider the impact of revenue measures in the budget while setting the tax collection target for 2016-17.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister Haroon Akhtar Khan told Dawn he has worked out the negative revenue impact of the decisions that the government took after setting the annual target.

As a result of these decisions, he said the FBR witnessed a shortfall of Rs120bn until February 23. Failing to increase petrol prices resulted in a shortfall of Rs90bn while the impact of a downward revision in the duty on fertilisers was Rs14bn, he said. Similarly, the kitty lost Rs14bn because of the abolition of zero-rating on five sectors while lower rates on pesticides led to a loss of Rs2bn.

“I have already shared the analysis with the finance minister,” Mr Khan said. A tax-wise breakup shows the collection under the head of income tax amounted to Rs148bn in March against Rs131bn a year ago, reflecting an increase of 13pc. However, it missed the target by around Rs7bn last month.

The collection of sales tax reached Rs127bn in March against Rs117bn in the same month of 2016, indicating an increase of 8.54pc. Its collection marginally surpassed the monthly target. It improved owing to growth in the domestic sales tax collection.

The collection of customs duty amounted to Rs47bn in March against Rs36bn last year, showing growth of 30.5pc. It missed the target by Rs1bn last month.

The collection of federal excise duty in March was Rs20bn against Rs18bn a year ago, indicating growth of 11pc. The target for the collection of excise duty was achieved last month.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2017