LAHORE: Federal Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Saturday said present government’s effective policies had ensured tax growth rate up to 33 percent in two years-16.5 percent per annum.
He was addressing the passing out ceremony of Probationary Officers of the 42nd Specialized Training Programme of the FBR here at Directorate General of Training and Research (Inland Revenue). Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on
Revenue Haroon Akhtar Khan, DOT DG Sameera Yaseen, Member IR (Operations) Dr Muhammad Irshad also addressed the ceremony, attended by high-ups of the FBR and 57 probationary officers.
The Finance Minister said the present government’s effective policies had ensured tax growth rate up to 33 percent in two years-16.5 percent per annum- while it was mere 3 percent in the past. This government has also the credit of setting new record by taking foreign exchange reserves up to USD 21 billion while, the GDP growth rate is now at 4.24 percent and Tax to GDP ratio has increased to 11 percent from 8.5 percent when the government took office.
The Finance Minister said the government was making tax collection system more simple, as it wanted to take the tax-to-GDP ratio to 15 percent so that Pakistan developed on her own finances and resources. He said, Pakistan could easily rise as big economy on the world map for which everyone would have to play their role and “We have to separate politics from economy for a while.” In this way, he was of the view, Pakistan could also easily attain six to seven percent growth rate.
The Finance Minister also assured that all possible resources would be provided to change the work culture in the tax collection machinery, adding that strengthening of institutions was also priority of the government.
“We are also fully focused on the jobs creation through economic growth.” He also announced that Pakistan Tax Medal would be launched after finalizing its modalities with the authorities concerned.
Earlier, PM’s Special Assistant on Revenue Haroon Akhtar Khan appreciated Finance Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar and his team for reviving and taking the country’s economy to new heights.
At the end, the Finance Minister gave away certificates and shields among the passing out officers. The Finance Minister and DOT DG also presented shields to each other as memento to the ceremony.
