Revenue Collection above Target

Revenue collection has exceeded the set target by Rs 12.26 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The revenue collection data of the first quarter unveiled by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) recently shows that the government has collected Rs 127.04 billion in revenue against the target of Rs 114.78 billion for the first quarter. Tax collection under major tax contributors — value added tax (VAT), customs tariff, excise, income tax — was encouraging in the review period. The MoF also reviewed the revenue collection progress of first quarter amid an event where Finance Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara said the revenue collection progress is satisfactory, but that the government’s spending in development works is very low. He instructed the civil servants to apply all means to control revenue leakages and work in coordination with related departments under the MoF. Revenue collection in the first three months was largely backed by the import growth as 44 percent of the total revenue is collected at the customs points in the form of customs duty, VAT, excise and others. Import surged by 70.7 percent in the first quarter of this fiscal when compared to the corresponding period of previous fiscal. The country imported goods worth Rs 220.62 billion in the first three months of this fiscal.