Federal Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar presented the budget for the financial year 2023-24.
During his address in the National Assembly, the Finance Minister initially presented a comparative assessment of Nawaz Sharif’s government and the previous government of PTI.
He said that now I present before the honorable House the main points of the revised budget for the current financial year 2022-23.
The Federal Finance Minister said that the revenue of FBR is likely to be around 7,200 billion rupees in the current financial year. In which the share of the provinces will be Rs 4,129 billion, the non-tax revenue of the federal government is expected to be Rs 1,618 billion. The revenue of the federation will be 4 thousand 689 billion rupees.
He said that the total expenditure is estimated at 11,090 billion rupees, the expenditure under PSDP is likely to be up to 567 billion rupees.
He said that more or less one thousand 510 billion rupees will be spent on defense.
The Federal Minister of Finance said that the total expenses of the civil government will be 553 billion, 654 billion rupees will be spent on pensions, 1 thousand 93 billion rupees will be spent on subsidies and 1 thousand 90 billion rupees will be spent on grants.
Regarding the figures of the next fiscal year, the federal minister said that the economic growth rate for the next fiscal year is estimated to be 3.5 percent while the inflation rate is estimated to be 21 percent.
He said that the budget deficit will be 6.54 percent and Primary Surplus will be 0.4 percent of GDP, the export target for the next financial year is 30 billion dollars while the remittance target is 33 billion dollars.
Ishaq Dar said that next year FBR revenue is estimated to be Rs 9,200 billion in which the share of provinces will be Rs 5,276 billion. Federal non-tax revenues will be Rs 2,963 billion. The total revenue of the federal government will be Rs 6,887 billion.
He said that the total expenditure of the federal government is estimated at 14,460 billion rupees, out of which 7,303 billion rupees will be spent on interest payment.
He said that a budget of 950 billion rupees has been allocated for PSDP next year. Apart from this, after the additional amount of Rs 200 billion through Public Private Partnership, the overall development budget will be at a historic high of Rs 1,150 billion.
He said that 1,804 billion rupees will be provided for national defense, 714 billion rupees for civil administration expenses, 761 billion rupees have been allocated for pension.
He said that an amount of 1,074 billion rupees has been kept as subsidy for electricity, gas and other sectors.
The Finance Minister said that a grant of Rs 1,464 billion has been allocated to Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, merged districts, HEC, BISP, Railways and other departments.
Ishaq Dar informed that working generalist health insurance card artist health insurance card will be issued.
He said that funds have been provided for the welfare of minorities, sportspersons and students. A pension fund will be established to meet the liability of future pension expenditure.
Public Sector Development Program (PSDP)
He said that the development budget plays an important role in the development of the country. Through the development budget, objectives such as increasing the efficiency of the economy, providing better infrastructure, human development, regional equity and increasing investment are achieved.
He said that 1,150 billion rupees have been set aside for the federal development program for the next fiscal year, while the size of the provincial development program is 1,559 billion rupees. Thus, the size of the development program at the national level will be 2,709 billion rupees.
The Finance Minister said that this amount is only 2.6% of the GDP. The PML-N in its previous tenure had raised the volume of development expenditure to about 5 percent of GDP.
The finance minister said that no new tax will be imposed on the industrial sector next year.
The finance minister said that the economic growth rate for the next fiscal year is estimated to be 3.5 percent.
He said that the target of exports in the next financial year is 30 billion dollars, the target of remittances is 33 billion dollars.
He said that 5 billion rupees have been allocated for providing subsidized loans to the agro industry.
The finance minister said that it is proposed to reduce the tax on the income of banks from SMEs, agriculture, construction sector from 46 to 20 percent.
Ishaq Dar said that the inflation rate is estimated to be around 21 percent while the budget deficit will be 6.54 percent and primary head plus 0.4 percent of GDP.
The finance minister said that the budget has focused on the industrial and export sector, the export target for the next financial year is 30 billion dollars.
He said that the remittance target for the next financial year is 33 billion dollars.
The finance minister said that the rate of GST on tier one retailers of textile, leather products is being increased from 12 to 15 percent. This tax will be levied on valuable branded textile and leather garments.
He said that the total expenses of the civil government will be 553 billion and 654 billion will be spent on pension.
The finance minister said that 1093 billion rupees will be spent in the form of subsidies and 1090 billion rupees in the form of grants.
He said that there are more or less 3,000 foreign domestic servants working in Pakistan, withholding tax at the rate of Rs.
He said that IT exporters will be allowed to import $50,000 worth of hardware duty free.
The Finance Minister said that the minimum wage of a laborer in Islamabad is being increased to 32 thousand rupees.
He said that the pension is being increased by 17.5%.
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