ISLAMABAD – The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has fallen short of theten-month revenue target for the current fiscal year by a record margin.

The revenue collection from July to April of this fiscal year stood at Rs.2.993 trillion against the target of Rs. 3.35 trillion, missing the mark byat least Rs. 345 billion, an FBR official said.

The total collection may further increase by a few billion once the finalfigures for April are out, the official said.

“The overall collection for July-April was higher by just Rs. 70 billion or2.4% as compared to the corresponding period last year,” the official said,adding that FBR collected Rs. 2.923 trillion in the first ten months lastfiscal years.

However, the worrisome part is that the rate of increase in tax collectionremained far below the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of12.5% during the current fiscal year so far.

For April alone, the tax revenue shortfall stood at Rs. 52 billion as therevenue collecting authority could collect only Rs. 288 billion. Itsmonthly target was Rs. 340 billion.