ISLAMABAD: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA) has collected over Rs26.5 billion in sales tax on services in the fiscal year 2022 compared to Rs11 billion in the fiscal year 2019, while the number of registered taxpayers increased to 20,062 and filing compliance stood at 11,886 since the launch of Governance and Policy Programme (GPPs) project in the province and the merged districts.

High-level officials from the federal and provincial governments, along with representatives from the World Bank and donor agencies, gathered in Islamabad to showcase the key achievements and reforms implemented by the GPPs to improve service delivery in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the merged districts.

Governance reforms in the province including merged districts, the GPPs have improved revenue mobilisation and public financial management (PFM), public investment management (PIM), and accountability in public services to improve the government’s capacity not only in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa but also in the newly-merged districts of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Additional Chief Secretary Planning and Development Department Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad Zubair Asghar Qureshi, while congratulating on the successful completion of GPPs, said that the Governance and Policy Program (GPP) of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the merged territories are supported by the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDT).

Under the supervision of the World Bank, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has made significant progress in improving governance and public service delivery. He further said that reform measures especially revenue mobilisation, capacity building of government officials, monitoring of service delivery and management of public assets by adopting new technologies have improved governance and accountability in public service delivery in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Director General PCNA Planning and Development Department Syed Zahir Ali Shah said that under the leadership of the Government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, both GPPs have made significant progress towards achieving their goals. Both projects in collaboration with various government agencies have achieved their objectives.

GPPs have provided extensive support to the Finance Department for a better public financial management system. Support of GPPs to KP Revenue Authority (KPRA) has resulted in a substantial increase in tax revenue.

Since the launch of the project, KPRA has successfully collected over Rs26.5 billion in sales tax on services while the number of registered taxpayers increased to 20,062 and filing compliance stood at 11,886. The GPP also assisted Finance in conducting an actuarial study to determine pension liabilities, which became the basis for further pension reforms in the province.

Further, pension reform became the basis, with 19 departments starting to use framework agreements while 62 procuring bodies published procurement plans on the website.

Project Support Finance Department in Integrated Areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has successfully transitioned from the Federal Government’s Financial Management System to the Integrated Financial Information System of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. All the seven districts of the merged areas are regularly submitting the budget implementation report to the finance department.

GPPs have also developed a comprehensive professional accreditation program for the finance department to equip human resources with the best public financial management skills. These reforms have helped the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to take further steps towards self-reliance, better financial discipline and control not only in the financial management system of the province but also in the management of public resources, thereby improving the overall economic prosperity of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Public investment management in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has significantly increased with the support of the PPPKP and the Department of Planning and Development (P&DD) of the merged territories.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023