ISLAMABAD: The Federal Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting at his office to review the implementation and progress made so far on the reforms and economic targets set by the PML-N Government.
The Chairman Federal Board of Revenue Tariq Bajwa informed the Finance Minister that the number of tax returns filed this year were 814981 as compared to 744866 last year.
The Chairman further informed the Finance Minister that on December 20, 2012 the revenue collected was Rs.91.5 billion whereas an amount of Rs.114 billion has been collected in the corresponding period this year which shows an increase of 25%. He also informed the Finance Minister that the necessary Statutory Revision Orders (SROs) relating to the incentives scheme announced by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have been issued. Dr. Waqar Masood, Secretary Finance gave an update on the austerity measures and savings made to date.
Advisor to Finance Ministry, Rana Asad Amin briefed the Finance Minister on the progress made so far on the issue of sovereign bonds, efforts being made to streamline and increase remittances and that the foreign exchange reserves are likely to improve which will have a favourable impact on the value of rupee.
The Finance Minister directed the Commerce Ministry to ensure that the recent concession of GSP plus by the European Union is utilized optimally and the exporters are facilitated and provided all necessary assistance in this regard.
The Finance Minister expressed satisfaction over the pace of implementation of reforms and urged the officials to redouble their efforts to achieve the targets.
