November 17, 2001	Saturday	Ramazan 1, 1422

ISLAMABAD, Nov 16: The ministry of finance has finalized necessary recommendations for restructuring of the CBR, which to be presented to President General Pervez Musharraf on Saturday for approval. “We will present our recommendations to the president tomorrow for approval to make the central board of revenue an efficient and modern tax collection agency,” said Minister for Finance Shaukat Aziz.

He told Dawn on Friday that the recommendations have been made in the light of various reports including Syed Shahid Hussain’s. “We have been making sea changes to create a taxpayer-friendly environment without compromising the need to generate appropriate revenues,” he said.

Aziz said that World Bank would provide necessary technical and financial support to implement the recommendations for revamping the whole CBR.

Asked whether any assessment has been made as to how much the CBR will collect annual revenue, the finance minister said that it will take some time to gauge that aspect. The government, he said, had already set up a tax advisory board, which would monitor the reform programme of the CBR.

Through the new recommendations, he said, the credibility of the CBR would be enhanced and the taxpayers would be given due importance. “Modern techniques will be applied to increase revenues and plug leakages,” he said.