World Bank Country Director for Pakistan Najy Benhassine discussed with Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Asim Ahmad the World Bank sponsored reforms programme ‘Pakistan Raises Revenue’ on Friday, said a press release.
Benhassine called on Asim Ahmad for an introductory meeting following his appointment as the FBR chairman.
The World Bank-sponsored programme ‘Pakistan Raises Revenue’ is a $400 million programme for domestic resource mobilisation through the automation of tax collection processes and the simplification of tax compliance procedures.
The FBR chairman gave an update on the progress of the reforms agenda covering 10 Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs) and also shared concerns regarding the difficulties being encountered in progress on reform interventions involving data sharing with provinces and the Sindh High Court stay on the Track and Trace process.
Member Reforms, Ms Ambreen Iftikhar, and World Bank’s Team Lead on ‘Pakistan Raises Revenue’ Raymond Muhulla also attended the meeting. It was decided that the FBR Reforms team would give a detailed presentation to the World Bank head regarding the impediments being faced by the FBR, especially with regard to Component 1 of the Reforms programme worth $320 million.
The FBR is on track regarding most of the DLIs and has made good progress on the automation of key business processes and the signing of MOUs with various authorities for sharing data. Benhassine has agreed to look into the concerns raised by the FBR chairman over matters which are beyond the scope of FBR’s administrative authority.
