ISLAMABAD: The first four months of the ruling PML-N government witnessed Rs39 billion shortfall in revenue collection.

Sources said that the revenue collection is far behind the projected monthly targets, but the government still seems unmoved.

The shortfall is being witnessed since July despite claims by the government that revenue target of Rs2475 billion for the current year would be achieved.

The IMF has already projected that annual FBR collection would be near Rs2380bn as against a target of Rs2475bn, a shortfall of Rs95bn.

The State Bank of Pakistan also projected a revenue collection of Rs2367bn for 2013-14, which is on the lower side of the IMF projection.

Provisional figures compiled by the FBR showed a collection of Rs636bn in July-October as against the target of Rs675bn projected for the same period, reflecting a shortfall of Rs39bn.

FBR’s spokesperson Shahid Husain Asad told Dawn that collection under the head of income tax and sales tax witnessed a significant growth during the first four months of the current fiscal year over last year.

He, however, said that customs collection fell because of decline in import of dutiable imports during the month under review.

He said import bill is mostly confined to oil products while import of other items declined significantly.

Asad said overall economy has slowed down while revenue collection performed satisfactorily. Shortfall in revenue collection remained a regular feature from the start of the current fiscal year.

Revenue collection in July 2013 was Rs123bn as against the target of Rs131.8bn, reflecting a shortfall of Rs8.8bn.

Shortfall in August fell to Rs1.6bn as revenue collection reached Rs148bn as against the target of Rs149.6bn projected for the same month.

The shortfall in collection rebounded in September as it stood at Rs203bn as against the target of Rs229bn for the same month, reflecting a shortfall of Rs26bn.

In October 2013, revenue collection witnessed a shortfall of Rs9bn as revenue stood at Rs156bn as against the target of Rs165bn.

Revenue collection witnessed a growth of 9.64pc in October 2013 over last year in the same month. The government had projected a growth target of 27pc per month which was largely missed.

To achieve the annual target, the FBR would have to achieve record growth of 32pc in the remaining months, which was next to impossible.

Provisional figures show that direct tax collection reached Rs50.255bn in October 2013 as against Rs45.304bn collected during the same month last year, reflecting a growth of 10.92pc.

Sales tax collection stood at Rs76.431bn as against Rs61.286bn last year, showing a growth of 24.7pc.

Growth in sales tax collection was because of increase in the sales tax rate from 16pc to 17pc and rise in the price of petroleum products.

The FED collection stood at Rs12.766bn in October as against Rs11.588bn over the same month last year, reflecting a growth of 10.1pc.

Negative growth of 4.42pc was recorded in the collection of customs duties as revenue collection stood at Rs16.206bn this year as against Rs16.956bn over the corresponding month of last year.

Annual revenue target for 2013-14 was fixed on the basis of Rs2007bn, to be collected by the end of June 2013 but actually collection for the year ended up at Rs1939bn.

Thus the base eroded by Rs68bn, right from the beginning of the current fiscal year.