Summary Finance secretary says decline in reserves can be attributed to many factors.
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - National Assembly was informed on Thursday that the total reserves held by the country stand at 8.31 billion dollars.
Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan told the House during Question Hour that of these 3.46 billion dollars are held by State Bank of Pakistan and four point eight four by commercial banks.
He said the decline in foreign reserves can be attributed to many factors including pressure on exports‚ increase in import bill and low FDS among others.
However‚ he said‚ the government is taking a number of steps to increase overall balance of payment position of the county and building foreign exchange reserves.
These include efforts to realize inflows from different sources including Coalition Support Fund money‚ 3 G license fee‚ and receipts of Euro Bonds.
On another question‚ he said government has so far issued four thousand one hundred and thirty four exemption certificates to importers and manufacturers during the current fiscal year‚ amounting to twenty one billion rupees.
He said‚ these certificates‚ do not affect the budgetary estimates.
Rana Muhammad Afzal said the government has issued tax return notices to over sixty thousand potential tax payers during the current financial year.
He said in response more than three thousand persons have registered voluntarily and some three thousand five hundred have filed returns.
He said the government aims to bring one hundred thousand new tax payers in the net during the current financial year and additional one hundred thousand in each of the following two years.
He said in order to expand the tax base‚ government is making use of economic activities of significant value that are important in asset creation or consumption by persons not on tax roll.
