Revenue mobilisation up by 35 per cent

The government's constant efforts to meet the revenue target spelled out in the budget are paying off.
According to Nepal Rastra Bank's (NRB) first four months' microeconomic indicators, revenue mobilisation grew by 35.4 per cent to reach Rs 33 billion compared to an increase of only 13.2 per cent in the same period the last fiscal year. Such an impressive revenue mobilisation was ascribed to the high growth of income tax, VAT collection, customs, excise, vehicle tax and registration fee as well as high growth of non-tax revenue.
Reforms in customs, excise administration and imports are the reason behind the increase. Of the total revenue mobilisation, VAT revenue grew by 31.2 per cent to Rs 12 billion in mid-November 2008. It is more than double as it had increased by 13.4 per cent in the same period last fiscal year.
"In the review period, customs revenue rose by 22.7 per cent to reach Rs 7.2 billion compared to an increase of 9.4 per cent in the same period last year," said the central bank's report of first four months of this fiscal year.Excise revenue also increased by 32.4 per cent to reach Rs 4.2 billion compared to an increase of 32.3 per cent in the same period of the previous year.
Income tax revenue increased by 25.9 per cent to reach Rs 3.7 billion in the review period. "The evolution of corporate culture on account of growth in banks and financial institutions has contributed to so much income tax collection," it said.
Non-tax revenue grew by 73.9 per cent to reach Rs 3.4 billion due to increase in dividends paid by some public enterprises including Nepal Telecom.

Dataspeak
KATHMANDU: In the first four months of this fiscal year, the micro-economic indicators look encouraging except that the consumer price index rose to 14.5 per cent.
* Exports soared by 39.9 per cent.
* Exports to India went up by 24.4 per cent.
* Exports to other countries rose by 70.8 per cent.
* Total imports rose by 38.9 per cent.
* Imports from India went up by 22.1 per cent.
* Imports from other countries grew by 65.3 per cent.
* Overall Balance of Payment recorded a surplus of Rs 11.86 billion.
* The current account also posted a surplus of Rs 9.52 billion.
* Workers' remittances soared by 65.9 per cent.
* Gross foreign exchange reserves stood at Rs 231.34 billion.
* On the basis of the US dollar, gross forex reserves declined by 5.3 per cent to $2.94 billion.
* The current level of reserves is adequate for financing merchandise imports till 9.9 months, and merchandise and service imports till eight months.
* NRB purchased Indian currency (IC) worth 22.53 billion through the sale of $490 million.
* The government budget remained at a surplus of Rs 1.3 billion.