ISLAMABAD - The beleaguered government has faced another economic jolt by not receiving the due amount of $400 million from the United States under Coalition Support Fund (CSF) in the outgoing financial year to be ended on June 30, which would further increase the fiscal deficit against the thrice revised target, it has learnt on Tuesday.Pakistan had estimated to receive $400 million from the US under CSF in the budget 2011-12; however, Islamabad could not get the amount because of political tensions between the two countries after the Abbottabad raid on May 2, 2011. There is already a pending reconciled amount of $2.5 billion, but not a single penny was has been released since Osama bin Laden’s killing in the unilateral operation conducted by the US forces on the Pakistani soil.Sources informed The Nation that the fiscal deficit would go beyond the revised target of 5.5 per cent of the GDP (excluding Rs 391 billion on account of power and other liabilities) during the fiscal year (2011-12), after the delay in reimbursing of the CSF fund by the US government.It may be mentioned that the government had estimated fiscal/budget deficit at 4 per cent of the GDP for the outgoing financial year, which was later revised to 4.7 per cent owing to the losses occurred due to the floods and rains in most parts of the country. However, the government further revised it to 5.5 per cent of the GDP mainly due to the delay in auctioning of 3G licences, not receiving money from Etisalat against the privatisation of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and shortfall in revenue collections.The government had estimated to generate some $2.5 billion from three different sources including CSF, auction of 3G licences, and PTCL for the outgoing fiscal year, which did not materialised resulting in higher budget deficit.Meanwhile, apart from receiving CSF dues, the government is also struggling to achieve the revenue collection target of Rs 1952 billion set for the fiscal year 2011-12, which would also put an impact on budget deficit. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected Rs 1800 billion till June 25 and it needs to collect further Rs 152 billion in remaining six days to reach the target.






