Govt sets Rs5.5tr revenue target in upcoming budget.

ISLAMABAD -- Prime Minister's Adviser on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Saturday said that the government had set the revenue collection target of Rs5.5 trillion for the next financial year.

Addressing a press conference here, Shaikh said that in order to collect the additional revenue, more people and companies would be brought into the tax net, however no extra burden would be put on those who were already paying taxes. He added that the government was taking measures to put more burden on tax evaders.

'Shabbar Zaidi, the new chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), is quite an able and hardworking person and we hope he will meet the challenge of an ambitious target,' the PM's adviser said.

Shaikh said that currently 360 companies were paying 85% of the total revenue of the country, while there are thousands of other companies who were not paying any taxes. 'In order to bring people in the tax system, the government would utilise the data of gas, electricity consumers, bank account holders and companies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP),' he added.

The adviser pointed out that there were as many as 341,000 commercial consumers out of which only 40,000 were registered with FBR. 'Similarly, out of the total 50 million bank accounts, only 10% were registered with FBR,' he said.

IMF PACKAGE:

Defending the government's deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Shaikh said that the current deal with the Fund has a lower rate of interest as compared to other programmes.

The government has come under severe criticism from all quarters, including heated debates on mainstream media.

Defending the decision to enter into a deal with the IMF, Shaikh said the Fund was formed with the sole purpose of providing assistance to its member countries, which face 'financial difficulties'.

'It is not a new thing and many countries have availed the facility as have we in the past many times,' he added.

The adviser said under the programme, the Fund will provide $6 billion to Pakistan over a period of three years. He said the programme was better than the previous bailout in a way that it was lower interest rates.

'The interest rate is 3.2 per cent,' he said.

He, however, refused to...