ISLAMABAD, April 10: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has collected Rs310.3 billion during the July-March period of 2002-03 against the target of Rs310.1 billion set for the same period.

Final official figures released by the CBR here on Thursday showed that it registered an 15 per cent increase when compared to Rs269.8 billion collected during the same period last year.

CBR official spokesman and Member Direct Taxes Vakil Ahmad Khan in a statement said that the collection of income tax has registered negative growth as compared to last year’s collection, which was mainly due restructuring.

He said that it was expected that collection was likely to improve in the coming months.

It was only the customs duty and sales tax which showed a massive growth of 55.9 per cent and 22.6 per cent during the period against the collection of last year, he added.

Tax-wise break up showed that Rs94.7 billion has been collected under the head of direct taxes during July-March against Rs96.155 billion the same period last year, showing a decline of 1.51 per cent.

The CBR collected Rs45.2 billion under head of customs duty against Rs29.008 billion over the corresponding period of last year, showing an increase of 55.9 per cent, while the sales tax collection stood at Rs139.1 billion against Rs113.424 billion, showing an increase of 22.6 per cent.

Under central excise duty the tax authorities collected Rs31.3 billion against Rs31.22 billion over the same period last year, showing an increase of 0.25 per cent.