Revenue collection witnesses 20pc growth: NA told

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly was informed on Wednesday that revenue collection by Federal Board of Revenue has witnessed a significant growth of twenty percent during the first quarter of current fiscal year.

Parliamentary Secretary for Finance, Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan told the house during question hour that the government over the last four years took various measures to curtail expenses and increase revenue.

These efforts bore fruits and the deficit was brought down to five point eight percent during the last financial year. He said the fiscal deficit has been budgeted at four point one percent for the current fiscal year.

He said country's total debt stands at 62.5 billion dollars. He said the government is following Debt Limitation and Responsibility Act.

He said that domestic debt is obtained for budgetary support that includes infrastructure and development is need of the country. He said the annual development plan has been increased from 695 billion rupees in 2012-13 to 1577 billion rupees in 2016-17.

He said that exports, remittances and foreign direct investment have shown positive trend during the first quarter of current fiscal year. Exports have increased by 20 percent and workers' remittances by over fifteen percent.

He said the foreign exchange reserves are about 20 billion dollars. He said the country is economically stable. Responding to a supplementary question, Rana Muhammad Afzal said that Zarai Taraqiati Bank has launched different schemes to support the agriculture sector.

He said with the cooperation of Punjab government, the bank has introduced a scheme in which the markup will be paid by the provincial government while the principle amount will be paid by the farmers.

Responding to a Calling Attention Notice, Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services, Farhana Qamar told the house that a proposal is under consideration to establish cancer registry.

She said breast cancer is spreading fast in Asia and lady health workers have been instructed to create awareness amongst the women about it.

She said PC-1 has been approved for the establishment of one hundred bed unit at PIMS Islamabad for the treatment of breast cancer patients. The House has now been prorogued.