KATHMANDU, Feb 21: The Biratnagar Customs Office (BCO) has successfully met its monthly revenue target after four years of falling short. Since the beginning of the fiscal year 2021/2022, the customs office has collected more revenue than the target in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February) of the fiscal year 2024/25.
Data maintained by the BCO indicate that the revenue, which began improving from the Poush (mid-December to mid-January) of the current fiscal year, continued to meet the target in the month of Magh.
The BCO set a revenue collection target of Rs 3.242 billion for the month of Magh of the current fiscal year and it has collected Rs 3.43 billion in revenue. The collected amount is almost Rs 1 billion more than in the month of Magh of the last fiscal year 2023/24. In the month of Magh of the last fiscal year, the office had collected only Rs 2.453 million in revenue.
Earlier, in the month of Poush, the office had almost reached its revenue collection target. The target for revenue collection for Poush was set at Rs 3.319 billion, while the office collected Rs 3.192 billion in revenue.
In the months before Poush, the office had been collecting only a portion of its revenue target. The office collected 74.64 percent of the revenue target in the month of Mangsir (mid-November to mid-December). The target for revenue collection for Mangsir was set at Rs 3.27 billion, while the office managed to collect Rs 2.44 billion in revenue.
The office had set the revenue collection target at Rs 3.329 billion for the month of Kartik (mid-October to mid- November). During this period, the office collected 71.73 percent of the target, amounting to Rs 2.387 billion.
Similarly, in the month of Ashoj (mid-September to mid-October), the office had set a revenue collection target of Rs 3.31 billion, collecting Rs 2.47 billion in revenue. This is 74.66 percent of the target. In the month of Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September), out of the target of Rs 3.58 billion in revenue collection, the office collected Rs 2.44 billion, which is 68.26 percent of the target. In the month of Shrawan (mid-July to mid-August), out of a revenue collection target of Rs 3.25 billion, the office collected only Rs 2.62 billion, which is 81.57 percent of the target. The revenue target for the current fiscal year was also reduced after the Biratnagar Customs Office failed to meet the revenue collection target consistently.
The office has set a revenue target of Rs 23.31 billion for the current fiscal year while the revenue target for the last fiscal year was Rs 29.37 billion.
The statistics from the office show that the total foreign trade through the Biratnagar checkpoint has also increased significantly in the month of Magh of the current fiscal year compared to the previous year. The total trade at the Biratnagar checkpoint in the month of Magh of the last fiscal year was Rs 16.408 billion. However, it has increased to Rs 30.93 billion in the month of Magh of the current fiscal year.
Both imports and exports have increased compared to the previous fiscal year. In the month of Magh last year, goods worth Rs 13.92 billion were imported, while goods worth Rs 2.48 billion were exported. In the month of Magh of the current fiscal year, the value of imports increased to Rs 22.57 billion and exports reached Rs 8.36 billion. The improvements in both imports and exports, which has also led to a notable increase in revenue collection at the Biratnagar Customs Office.