Kathmandu, December 24

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has been unable to meet the revenue collection target set till mid-December of this fiscal year. The government had set a target to collect Rs 251.13 billion revenue during the first five months of the fiscal year, however the MoF has collected only Rs 239.97 billion during the period, which is 95.55 per cent of the target.

As per data maintained by the MoF, there was revenue shortfall of Rs 11.16 billion in the review period. However, the sector wise contribution is yet to be published.

The government has collected 32.87 per cent of the annual revenue target during the five months. MoF has targeted to collect Rs 730 billion as revenue through the annual budget of this fiscal year.

As per Arjun Prasad Pokhrel, joint secretary and spokesperson for MoF, due to shortfall in Value Added Tax (VAT) and income tax, the overall revenue target could not be met during the review period. According to him, 89.94 per cent of VAT and 88.86 per cent of income tax have been collected.

The government had collected revenue worth Rs 208.72 billion in the same period of last fiscal year 2016-17, which was Rs 13.89 billion more than the set target. Though the government failed to meet the revenue target, the revenue collection has increased by 14 per cent in this period in comparison to the same period of last fiscal year.