November 16, 2003	Sunday	Ramazan 20, 1424

ISLAMABAD, Nov 15: The tax authorities have fixed Rs125.9 billion revenue target for the second quarter of the current financial year against Rs111.080 billion collected during the same period last year, projecting an increase of 13.3 per cent.

Official statistics with Dawn showed that the target set for the second quarter constituted 25 per cent of the annual target of Rs510 billion.

Similarly, the target for the third quarter has been fixed at Rs123.9 billion against Rs108.858 billion collected during the same period last year, an increase of 13.8 per cent. And Rs168.1 billion was set for the fourth quarter this year against Rs149.897 billion during the same period of last year, showing an increase of 12.1 per cent.

The statistics showed that the share of revenue in the third and fourth quarters constituted 24 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively.

According to a report compiled by CBR, Rs94.1 billion were collected against the target of Rs92.2 billion set for the first quarter, registering an increase of 2.1 per cent over the target.

The report says the improvement in revenue collection was largely due to broadbased growth of the economy. At the same time, various policy initiatives undertaken by the CBR over the last few years have also started to payoff, added the report.