ISLAMABAD, Jan 7: The revenue collection at import stage has registered more than 45 per cent growth during the first half of the current financial year, over the same period of last year.

Member customs Ramzan Bhatti told Dawn on Wednesday that the total revenue raised from imports of goods stood at Rs40.24 billion during the period under review against Rs27.687 billion collected over the same period of last year, indicating an increase of Rs12.55 billion.

He said that a string of measures had been taken to plug the leakages in the revenue collection at import stage. The member said that all these measures were taken following the observation that despite the massive increase in the value of imports, the collection of sales tax at import stage had registered a negative growth during the fourth quarter of last year and first few months of the current financial year.

With all these measures, he said, the collection of sales tax at import stage had registered a growth of 15.3 per cent during the July-December period of the current financial year over the same period last year.

The total revenue raised from sales tax at imports stood at Rs59.089 billion during the period under review against Rs51.235 billion over the same period last year, showing an increase of Rs7.854 billion.

Similarly, Mr Bhatti said the revenue raised from the withholding tax of income tax registered a nominal growth of 1.1 per cent to Rs9.9 billion during the first half of the current financial year against Rs8.8 billion over the same period last year. The member customs said that the revenue target of Rs78.1 billion set for the customs duty for the year 2003-04 would be achieved easily.