Bureau Report
KARACHI: The country’s foreign reserves held by the central bank remained stable during the week ending on Decembers 11, 2020, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday. On December 11, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $13,298.8 million, the same as in the previous week. The central bank said the overall foreign reserves of the country stood at $20.38 billion. Earlier December 9 the Federal Board of Revenue said, marking the last day of tax filing, it amassed Rs22 billion making it the largest income tax amount historically collected on the occasion.
The revenue board shared figures of tax filers as the session concluded yesterday noting 1.8 million files submitted which are up by four per cent of the target while tax collection surpassed 63 pc, it claimed.
It may be noted that last year in the corresponding period, FBR collected Rs13.5 billion in income tax head. The government decided not to extend the tax filing date post-December 8, the board said, in order to restore people’s trust in deadlines and fair-play.
It added in its statement today that in order to facilitate tax filers, the board has taken key steps including online submissions, and allowing tax advisors to file multiple tax files in a single plea. The number of tax files will in fact exceed 2.1 million filers, the board asserted its expectations while warning those who have failed to file their income taxes and violated the deadlines. Earlier last week, the revenue board shared its Monthly report on tax revenue collections across Pakistan noting Rs1.688 trillion in July-Nov period claiming a jump of Rs19 billion above target.
According to the FBR press statement released today, set target for Jul to Nov period was Rs1.669 trillion, however, the total collections marked Rs19 billion above the target, and added that on year-on-year comparison, this year translated in a surge of Rs65 billion. In its revenue break up, the tax body said it earned Rs577 billion on account of income-tax, while Rs743 billion under the sales-tax head. The collections in federal excise tax and customs duties remained at Rs104 billion and Rs264 billion respectively, the press statement recorded. 100 million earning from exports: Pakistan earned US $100.920 million by providing different transport services in various countries during the first three months of financial year (2020-21) as compared to the corresponding period last year. This shows decrease of 48.55 percent as compared to US $196.140 million earned through provision of services during the corresponding period of fiscal year (2019-20), Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Tuesday. During the period under review, the exports of sea transport services however witnessed increased of 373.80 percent, by going up from US $6.640 million last year to US $ 31.460 million during the period under review.
Among the sea transport services, the exports of freight services increased by 271.03 percent from US $3.900 million last year to US $14.470 million whereas the exports of other sea transport services also rose by 520.07 percent from US $2.740 million to US $16.990 million current year, the PBS data revealed. The exports of air transport witnessed decrease of 64.87 percent by going down from US $178.860 million last year to US $62.840 million during July-September (2020-21). Among the air transport services, the exports of passengers services decreased by 65.23 percent, from US $114.390 million to US $39.770 million, whereas the exports of freight services also dipped by 2.89 percent, from US $5.190 million to US $5.040 million, in addition the export of other air transport services decreased by 69.59 percent from US $59.280 million to US $18.030 million.
