ISLAMABAD: The federal government has collected Rs719.592 billion petroleum levy (PL) on petroleum products in the first nine months (July-March) of the fiscal year 2023-24 against a PL budgeted target of Rs869 billion, according to Pakistan Economic Survey 2023-24.

The government raised the PL ceiling on petroleum products from Rs50 to Rs60 per litre in the current fiscal year to meet the budgetary target of Rs869 billion.

The survey highlighted that the considerable improvement in the non-tax collection has been realised on the back of higher receipts from SBP profit, PL, mark-up (PSEs and others), and royalties on oil/ gas, etc.

Higher receipts from the PL have driven substantial growth in the non-tax collection due to a gradual increase in PL from Rs10 (July 2022) to Rs50 per litre (November 2022).

As a result of this adjustment, receipts under the petroleum levy surged by more than 300 percent, reaching Rs579.9 billion in fiscal year 2023, as compared to Rs127.5 billion in fiscal year 2022.

In contrast, the growth in tax collection was reduced to 15.7 percent in the fiscal year 2023, from 28.1 percent in the fiscal year 2022.

The tax collection efforts faced numerous challenges due to massive floods, import compression, economic slowdown, a considerable decline in LSM output, and zero rating on petroleum products to relieve the masses, the survey maintains.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024