10 February 2004	Tuesday	18 Zilhaj 1424

PESHAWAR, Feb 9: The NWFP government has raised over Rs120 million under the head of general sales tax on services during the first six months of the current financial year , and the chances of achieving the target set for the current fiscal appear slim, official sources told Dawn.

In its revenue receipts budget for the current financial year, the provincial government had planned to raise about Rs406 million through the general sales tax (GST) on services - a provincial levy collected by the CBR on behalf of the provincial governments.

With half of the financial year already passed, the government still needs to raise over Rs282 million to meet the target set for the current year. "Recovery of GST on services in proportionate to the original budgetary projection seems nearly impossible in view of the performance of the recovery head in the last couple of years," said a finance manager of the province.

The levy was introduced a few years back to bring down the number of provincial levies. Originally, it was hoped that the new levy would progress with every passing year. "But this doesn't appear to be the case as we are still unable to achieve the desired results," said an officer in the provincial government.

If proceeds under the head of GST on services are calculated on proportionate basis, the provincial government was supposed to have received Rs203 million by the end of the first half of the current financial year. Against that, it received slightly over Rs120 million, recording a shortfall of over Rs75 million.

The funds disbursed to the NWFP at the end of the sixth month of the current financial year helped it to post a total of over Rs120 million, raising it from an amount close to Rs100 million by the end of the fifth month of the current fiscal year.

"Monthly disbursements being made to the province leave no chance for the provincial government to touch the benchmark it has projected under the current year's budget," said the officer.

Last year, too, the provincial government ended up with recoveries less than the originally made projection of Rs413 million. The province received a total of Rs365 million during the 2002-03 financial year, missing the target by over Rs50 million.

If transfers from the Centre did not improve in the months to come, said the official source, there appeared greater chances that the province would end up with an amount between Rs325 million and Rs375 million when the current financial year came to its end on June 30, 2004.