ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Finance Minister Khurram Schehzad rejected local media reports of the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) missing its annual tax target by a massive margin of Rs864 billion [$3.08 billion], clarifying that the bureau had achieved over 99 percent of its tax collection target over a period spanning 11 months.
Local media organizations reported last week that Pakistan’s government missed its tax target by $3.08 billion, as Islamabad gears up to release its annual federal budget later this month. However, Schehzad said tax targets are set before the start of a financial year based on macroeconomic assumptions such as GDP growth, inflation, expected imports, large-scale manufacturing growth, exchange rate, and policy rate.
He said Pakistan revised its original revenue target downward to around Rs13,000 billion [$46.33 billion] in consultation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reflect evolving economic realities such as inflation volatility, a stronger exchange rate, changing growth dynamics, domestic challenges such as floods and international geopolitical developments like the US-Iran war and its impact on energy and commodity prices.
The official said the FBR collected Rs994 [$3.54 billion] billion in May, achieving 97 percent of its monthly target.
“Tax collection during the first eleven months reached Rs11,257 billion [$40.12 billion],” Schehzad wrote on social media platform X on Sunday. “Against the 11-month target, FBR has achieved 99.8 percent (effectively 100 percent) of the target, reaching Rs11,257 billion.”
The official said these facts do not support local media’s claims of a revenue collapse, fiscal crisis, or “massive” tax shortfall.
“FBR collected Rs1,502 billion [$5.35 billion] in June 2025,” he added. “The target for June 2026 is Rs1,727 billion [$6.15 billion], requiring 15 percent growth, which remains fully consistent with achieving the adjusted annual target.”
Schehzad assured businesspersons and investors that there is no basis for concerns about additional or extraordinary tax collection, or enforcement measures on account of purported tax “shortfall.”
“Public commentary on fiscal matters should be grounded in current official data and prevailing economic realities— not in the selective use of outdated benchmarks that create a misleading impression of fiscal stress,” the official said.
“Failure to account for evolving macroeconomic conditions, revised fiscal projections, and the broader economic context leads to conclusions that are inconsistent with the facts and prevailing realities.”
