ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has proposed a programme to secure a USD 200 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support reforms aimed at transforming revenue administration and enhancing economic transparency.
The project, titled “Transforming and Digitalizing Revenue Administration,” which is currently in the proposed stage, focuses on strengthening domestic resource mobilization while addressing long-standing inefficiencies in tax collection and trade facilitation.
Official documents revealed that the project aims to enhance the efficiency and transparency across the tax and customs administrations, and trade clearance processes, by improving business processes, data analytics, and the digitalization of transactions within domestic and international supply chains such as point-of-sale integration, digital invoicing, and trade facilitation, to develop a more progressive, automated revenue ecosystem and a trade facilitation that fosters transparency, efficiency, and economic growth.
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At the core of the reform is the digitalization of financial and trade processes. The plan includes integrating point-of-sale systems, implementing digital invoicing, and improving data analytics capabilities across tax and customs departments.
This project will address macroeconomic vulnerabilities within the Islamic Republic of Pakistan by strengthening domestic resource mobilization capacities through enhanced efficiency and transparency across the inland revenue (tax) and customs administrations and by streamlining trade clearance processes. The project will focus on improving business processes, data analytics, and the digitalization of transactions within domestic and international supply chains, such as point-of-sale integration, digital invoicing, and trade facilitation, to develop a more progressive and automated revenue and trade ecosystem that fosters transparency, efficiency, and economic growth.
Officials said that by modernizing systems within institutions such as the Federal Board of Revenue, the government hopes to expand the tax base and improve overall governance.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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