ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday approved the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) homegrown transformation plan to improve tax collection, Pakistan state media reported on Friday, amid Islamabad’s efforts to support the dwindling $350 billion South Asian economy.
Pakistan last year came to the brink of default as the economy shriveled amid political chaos, impact of 2022 floods and decades of mismanagement. Last-minute loan rollovers from friendly countries as well as a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) saved the nation.
The situation prompted Islamabad to introduce institutional reforms, as demanded by the IMF, to put the economy back on track but Pakistan’s finances remain in dire straits, with high inflation and staggering public debts.
Authorities prepared the FBR transformation plan in collaboration with economic and technological experts after a detailed analysis of tax collection in the last 25 years, the Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
“The plan includes a comprehensive strategy for the effective use of information technology, incentivizing officers and staff who demonstrate integrity and performance in improving tax collection and enhancing the enforcement of tax laws,” the report read.
“This will enable more tax to be collected in a better manner without hindering the journey of economic development and will provide more convenience to the people paying full tax.”
Strict measures can be taken against those who do not pay full tax on time and are involved in tax evasion, according to the proposals. Under the transformation plan, auditing capacity of the FBR will be enhanced.
Speaking at a meeting of stake-holders, PM Sharif directed the formulation of a comprehensive strategy to further enhance the effectiveness of the FBR’s enforcement system, describing it as a “pressing need.”
“FBR is the backbone of the country’s economy and its digitization is an important milestone in government’s economic reforms,” he was quoted as saying.
“Improvement in revenues will enhance the provision of services to the public and lead to betterment in the social sector.”
The prime minister also directed third party audit of all FBR projects.
In July, Sharif had asked FBR officials to re-evaluate and revise their strategy to enhance revenue collection to rid Pakistan of a massive public debt of $242 billion, according to Sharif’s office.
The statement came hours after Pakistan reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF for a new $7 billion loan deal. Islamabad agreed in exchange to conduct further unpopular reforms, including widening the South Asian nation’s chronically low tax base, and tax authorities have identified 4.9 million taxable persons in the country by using modern technology.
During the 2024-25 fiscal year beginning on July 1, Sharif’s government aims to raise nearly $46 billion in taxes, a 40 percent increase from the previous year. It has used more unusual methods, including blocking 210,000 mobile connections, to compel people to file their tax returns. Islamabad also aims to reduce its fiscal deficit by 1.5 percent to 5.9 percent in the coming year.
But Pakistan’s public debt of $242 billion remains a huge problem for the South Asian country and servicing it may swallow up half of the country’s income in 2024, according to the IMF.
Pakistan approves revamp of tax collection body in bid to support economy
https://arab.news/5qftx
Pakistan approves revamp of tax collection body in bid to support economy
- Pakistan last year came to the brink of default as economy shriveled amid political chaos, impact of 2022 floods and decades of mismanagement
- Islamabad reached the IMF for a bailout and agreed in exchange to conduct unpopular reforms, including widening the chronically low tax base
No casualties as blast derails Jaffar Express train in Pakistan’s south
- Passengers were stranded and railway staffers were clearing the track after blast, official says
- In March 2025, separatist militants hijacked the same train with hundreds of passengers aboard
QUETTA: A blast hit Jaffar Express and derailed four carriages of the passenger train in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province on Monday, officials said, with no casualties reported.
The blast occurred at the Abad railway station when the Peshawar-bound train was on its way to Sindh’s Sukkur city from Quetta, according to Pakistan Railways’ Quetta Division controller Muhammad Kashif.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bomb attack, but passenger trains have often been targeted by Baloch separatist outfits in the restive Balochistan province that borders Sindh.
“Four bogies of the train were derailed due to the intensity of the explosion,” Kashif told Arab News. “No casualty was reported in the latest attack on passenger train.”
Another railway employee, who was aboard the train and requested anonymity, said the train was heading toward Sukkur from Jacobabad when they heard the powerful explosion, which derailed power van among four bogies.
“A small piece of the railway track has been destroyed,” he said, adding that passengers were now standing outside the train and railway staffers were busy clearing the track.
In March last year, fighters belonging to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) separatist group had stormed Jaffar Express with hundreds of passengers on board and took them hostage. The military had rescued them after an hours-long operation that left 33 militants, 23 soldiers, three railway staff and five passengers dead.
The passenger train, which runs between Balochistan’s provincial capital of Quetta and Peshawar in the country’s northwest, had been targeted in at least four bomb attacks last year since the March hijacking, according to an Arab News tally.
Pakistan Railways says it has beefed up security arrangements for passenger trains in the province and increased the number of paramilitary troops on Jaffar Express since the hijacking in March, but militants have continued to target them in the restive region.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s southwestern province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, is the site of a decades-long insurgency waged by Baloch separatist groups who often attack security forces and foreigners, and kidnap government officials.
The separatists accuse the central government of stealing the region’s resources to fund development elsewhere in the country. The Pakistani government denies the allegations and says it is working for the uplift of local communities in Balochistan.
