Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed that key tasks relating to the digitization of Federal Board of Revenue should be completed by the end of this month.
Chairing a meeting regarding digitization of FBR in Islamabad, the Prime Minister emphasized the need to make taxation more effective and instructed strict measures for the implementation of the revenue collection strategy.
The prime minister said that the FBR’s digitisation was a key component of the government’s agenda of economic reforms. He appreciated the progress in the FBR’s digitisation and lauded the efforts of the finance minister, state minister for finance, FBR chairman and secretary of finance.
Expressing satisfaction over the increasing fiscal space, he said the efforts of the economic team were coming to fruition. The prime minister directed to complete the important tasks related to the FBR’s digitisation by the end of this month.
He said that consequent to the crackdown against the smuggled fuel and reduction in petrol and diesel prices, the sale of petroleum products had reached 1.58 million metric tons – the highest ever during the last 25 months.
Instructing strict measures to curb petrol smuggling, Prime Minister Shehbaz said that 15% increase in the year-on-year sale of petroleum products showed the revival of the energy market. During the meeting, the prime minister stated that due to the crackdown on smuggled fuel and the significant reduction in petrol and diesel prices, petroleum sales in Pakistan reached their highest level in 25 months in November 2024, at 1.58 million tonnes, which is a highly positive development.
He told the participants of the meeting that the timely decision for the sugar export brought in $500 million in remittance. The meeting was told that the digitisation of FBR’s value chain will be completed by March next year. The video analytics of the sugar industry has already been completed.
The prime minister called for early installation of the cement industry’s video analytics system.
It was told that work on system design for digital invoices has been completed and a mobile phone application for the digital invoicing of small businesses would be ready by the end of this month.
The participants were told that a new board of Pakistan Revenue Automation Ltd has been constituted and the organisation’s hardware and data center is also being upgraded.
Besides, a central assessment unit for faceless customs assessment at Karachi Airport will start functioning by this yearend.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Economic Affairs Minister Ahad Cheema, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Minister of State for Finance Ali Pervaiz Malik and relevant senior officers attended the meeting.
