KARACHI: Caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar Saturday said the tax collection of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) was higher than the IMF target in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

Talking to members of the Korangi Association of Trade & Industry (KATI) here, she said: “We are on track of IMF programme, and ensuring its implementation fast.” She hoped that more funds would be received from multilateral financial institutions after next tranche from the International Monetary Fund.

She said the IMF mission would be arriving early next month, and it would be briefed about the progress made on implementation of its programme.

The minister claimed improvement in economic growth of the country, and pointed out that improvement in agricultural output would add two to three per cent to GDP. She noted that industrial activity could not pick up massively yet.

She said that the rupee had appreciated by 8 per cent and the interbank dollar rate had stabilised at Rs279. She attributed the appreciation of rupee to administrative measures by curbing the smuggling as well as border management to check its outflow. She also opined that reforms of exchange companies also played an important role in that respect, and emphasised that preventing the misuse of currency was the responsibility of all institutions, and a lot of work was being done to stop smuggling and illegal transactions.

The minister admitted that inflation was not controlled fully, but it witnessed a downward trend as Pakistan was an open economy and external influences were immediate, adding that the war in Ukraine had affected oil prices and commodities.

Referring to the interest rate, she said it was determined by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), and the results were coming in the form of improvements in the country’s current account.

She also spoke about “economic recovery plan” to achieve sustainable growth and pointed out that small-scale industries can also play an important role in economic recovery.

About the capital market, she said reforms on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) have been made and their effects would also come out in the days to come. She asked the business community to encourage everyone to take money from the stock exchange instead of the banks.