ISLAMABAD, April 30: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has collected Rs440 billion revenue during the first 10 months (July-April) of the current fiscal year as against the target of Rs444.2 billion, showing a fall of 0.94 per cent. Provisional figures released here on Saturday by the CBR showed that revenue collection during the period under review has, however, registered an overall growth of 10.8 per cent this year when compared with the collection during the same period of the last year.

The revenue collection declined by 20 per cent as it stood at Rs38.7 billion in April 2005 as against the target of Rs48.4 billion.

The CBR expected that collection would increase further when the revenue figures for April 2005 were finalized in the next few days. The tax-wise break up showed that revenue collection under the head of direct tax stood at Rs127 billion during the July-April period this year against the target of Rs129.7 billion set for the same period, registering a decrease of 2.08 per cent.

The tax authorities collected Rs183.4 billion as sales tax during the 10 months this year as against the target of Rs194.5 billion, declining by 5.7 per cent. Collection on account of customs duties went up to Rs89.1 billion during the period under review this year against the target of Rs82.6 billion, indicating a growth of 7.86 per cent.

Similarly, the central excise duty collection stood at Rs38.7 billion during the 10 months this year as against the target of Rs37.5 billion set for the same period, showing a growth of 3.2 per cent over the target.