The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected Rs7 trillion in tax revenue till June 26, said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday.

“For the first time in the history of Pakistan, FBR has collected Rs7,000 billion in tax revenue till June 26,” Dar said in a tweet post.

“It will increase further till June 30,” he added.

The development comes just days before the end of the ongoing fiscal year i.e. 30 June 2023.

Last month, FBR provisionally collected Rs559 billion in May 2023 against the monthly target of Rs 621 billion, reflecting a shortfall of Rs 62 billion in May 2023.

The FBR set a tax collection target of Rs7.6 trillion for 2022-23.

Higher tax collection has been one of the major demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revive the stalled bailout programme.

On Sunday, the government passed the Finance Bill, 2023-24, which included several fiscal tightening measures as it moved to appease the lender .

The revised budget aims for an additional Rs215 billion in tax revenue alongside a cutback of Rs85 billion in public spending for the upcoming fiscal year.

However, this does not affect the federal development budget or the salaries and pensions of government employees.

With the changes in the finance bill, 2023-24, the revenue target of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for fiscal FY2023-24 went up from Rs9.2 trillion to Rs9.415 trillion.