Punjab's tax collection registered a 44% growth to Rs77 billion in first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of previous year, despite tough conditions of the federal government for the provinces to get a share in the federal divisible pool of resources.Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht disclosed this at a review meeting of the Finance Department on Monday.The meeting was briefed that despite the financial backlog left by the previous government, the current government gave a surplus budget of Rs233 billion in order to meet financial requirements of the federal government to comply with conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme.Meeting participants noted that a revenue collection target of Rs388 billion was fixed for Punjab for the current fiscal year 2019-20, which was 44% higher than the previous fiscal year.Published in The Express Tribune, October 15, 2019.Like Business on Facebook , follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.