ISLAMABAD, Jan 30: The government is likely to allow the Central Board of Revenue to further revise downward its revenue collection target by Rs10 billion due to continued effects of Sept 11 events.

Official sources told Dawn that Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz presided over a meeting here on Wednesday to review the ongoing process of tax reforms and was told that required revenue was coming from direct taxes and General Sales Tax. However, revenue relating to Customs was not being received adequately.

Moreover, the meeting was informed that every thing was planned when the Pakistan currency stood at Rs67 viz-a-viz dollar which has now gone down to Rs60, therefore, it was very difficult to meet the revised target of Rs430 billion set for the current financial year.

Chairman CBR Riaz Malik told the meeting that some difficulties were being experienced in the collection of required taxes on account of reduced imports as well as reduced rupee/dollar parity.

“We are not hiding any thing from anyone including the IMF about the difficulties we are facing in revenue collection due to Sept 11 events,” a source said, adding that revenue target would be reduced once again by Rs10 billion.

The IMF’s Senior Director for Middle East and South Asian region, Paul Chabrier, during his visit to Islamabad last week had hinted that the Fund might accept reduction in revenues due to continued effects of Sept 11 incidents. But he had warned that the IMF would not tolerate internal mismanagement that could cause revenue slippages.

In another meeting, a draft was finalised to be sent to President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday for approval. The draft contained details of market access and other bilateral agreements which will be finalised during the President’s three-day visit to the United States.