March 4, 2006	Saturday	Safar 3, 1427

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, March 3: The country’s defence expenditure is expected to surpass the annual target of Rs223 billion during the fiscal year 2005-6 as the half-yearly spending has crossed Rs119.054 billion, while revenue collection as percentage of the gross domestic product has declined when compared with the last year.

The half-yearly provisional data of consolidated operations suggest that utilization of the public sector development programme funds has amounted to Rs128.26 billion compared with Rs81.6 billion over the same period last year.

Defence expenditure in the first six months of the current year is Rs119.054 billion compared with Rs101.072 billion during the period last year, showing an increase of about 18 per cent. The defence spending in the first quarter of the year was Rs55.9 billion and it is maintaining a uniform trend.

The data suggest that revenue collection at Rs497.8 billion is higher than last year’s Rs423.8 billion while tax revenue stands at Rs343.3 billion compared with last year’s Rs298.2 billion.

Revenue collection in terms of share in the GDP has declined.

The statistics released by the finance ministry suggest that revenue stands at 6.67 per cent of the GDP against 6.9 per cent last year.

Tax revenue has declined to 4.6 per cent of the GDP against 4.8 per cent last year.

The share of direct taxes in the GDP is 1.4 per cent compared with 1.3 per cent last year, with the amount increasing from Rs104.2 billion from Rs80.7 billion. The share of taxes on property declined to 0.04 per cent of the GDP against 0.1 per cent last year.