Pakistan, June 2 -- Adviser to the Finance Minister Khurram Schehzad rejected local media reports of the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) missing its annual tax target by a massive margin of Rs864 billion [$3.08 billion], clarifying that the bureau had achieved over 99 percent of its tax collection target over a period spanning 11 months.

Local media organizations reported last week that Pakistan's government missed its tax target by $3.08 billion, as Islamabad gears up to release its annual federal budget later this month. However, Schehzad said tax targets are set before the start of a financial year based on macroeconomic assumptions such as GDP growth, inflation, expected imports, large-scale manufacturing growth, exchange rate, and p...