No new taxes, FBR tells IMF as govt tries to dispel talk of a ‘mini-budget’

ISLAMABAD: At the conclusion of its performance review with the visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation, top officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) have denied all talk of a “mini-budget” to bridge the shortfall in revenue collection posted in the first two quarters of this fiscal year.

“We have mostly met our second quarter targets” official sources told Dawn, but added two problematic areas — taxation and electricity — where the focus of the talks lay.

But official sources said that during these meetings there was no discussion of any mini-budget. “There is nothing like new taxes at the moment”, they said, adding the rumours are based on hearsay. The talks so far have only focused on a review of the previous quarter’s performance, they told Dawn.

The policy talks, in which benchmarks for the next quarter will be set, have not begun yet so talk of a “mini budget” is premature. They claim that the Fund has given a “satisfactory” review of FBR’s performance despite missing the revenue target by Rs105bn in the second quarter of this fiscal year.