Tag: budget

  • Budget explained: How it will affect you

    Budget explained: How it will affect you

    Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin unveiled the budget 2021-22. The total expenditure of the budget had been kept at Rs 8,478 billion and had set the tax collection target at Rs 5,829 billion. 

    Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari were in the house. Opposition members continued to bang desks and shouted slogans of “Go Niazi Go!” as the minister spoke.

    Earlier, Bilawal met Sharif at his chamber in the assembly and they decided both parties would jointly oppose the PTI’s budget.

    Tarin began his speech by saying it was an honour for him to present the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI’s) third budget.

    The minister paid tribute to the PTI government for stemming the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and taking steps to ensure businesses did not suffer massive losses in the country due to the lock downs.

    Pension

    Pensioners will get 10 per cent rise. Integrated allowance for Grade 1-5 has been raised from Rs 450 to Rs 900.

    Defence budget

    He said the defence budget of the country had been allocated Rs 1,370bn while the government had earmarked Rs 1,168 bn for development and non-development grants for provinces. 

     Subsidies

    The government had allocated Rs 682bn for subsidies to various sectors of the economy, adding that Rs 479bn had been allocated to run the civil government. 

    Coronavirus

    The government was serious in stemming the spread of the coronavirus and keeping its adverse effects at bay, adding that the government had set aside Rs100bn for it. 

    He announced the government’s initiative to earmark $1.1bn to procure coronavirus vaccines, adding that the government aimed to vaccinate 100mn people by July 2022.

    Ehsaas Emergency Cash Program

    “The government, through the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme, provided cash to 12mn people across the country,” he said. The finance minister announced that the government had set aside Rs260bn for the Ehsaas programme in the budget. 

    Remittances

    Tarin said remittances had increased in Pakistan to record levels, adding that these are expected to rise to $29bn by the end of this month. “This is proof of the love that overseas Pakistanis harbour for Prime Minister Imran Khan,” he said.

    Tax Collection

    Speaking about tax collection, he said it had grown by 18% and had crossed Rs4,000bn, adding that critics had no response to the government’s impressive performance in this regard. 

    Growth Sector

    Finance minister announced that the country’s economy was now entering the growth period, adding that almost every sector is growing. 

    He said Pakistan was seeing a “historic growth” in agriculture, stating that apart from cotton, all other crops saw extraordinary increases. He said that growth in the services sector helped improve numbers pertaining to poverty and had also played a major part in generation of wealth in Pakistan. 

    Tarin said the government had kept the growth target at 4.8% for the fiscal year, adding that the government will not leave the poor and the destitute at the mercy of inflation.  “Never in our economic history, were poor people able to realise their dreams,” he said, adding that PM Imran Khan wanted to uplift the poor. 

     Interest-free loans

    He said the government had decided to provide interest-free loans of up to Rs500,000 to the poor. 

     Development package

    He announced that the Public Sector Development Programme will be increased from Rs630 billion to Rs900 billion to counter the adverse impact of the coronavirus pandemic. 

    Tarin announced a development package for 14 districts in Sindh, adding that these will focus on improving education, solving the province’s water issues, and carrying out development in these districts. Rs16.5 billion have been allocated for Karachi-based projects for the fiscal year 2021-22.

    For developmental projects in Gilgit-Baltistan, the government has allocated Rs 40 billion. Meanwhile, Rs 54 billion have been allocated for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Rs 601 billion will be given to South Balochistan for uplift programs, he added.

    Sales Tax

    The minister announced that the government has slashed sales tax on locally manufactured cars from 17% to 12.5%. The government has also exempted Federal Excise Duty (FED) on 850cc cars and will slash duty on electric cars.

    Tarin said the government was slashing withholding taxes on mobile phones, adding that it will be reduced to 10% at first and then 8% later. 

    If mobile phone call duration exceeds three minutes, one rupee per call in addition to the rates of duty will be charged. For SMS service, ten paisa per SMS in addition to the rates of duty will be charged.

    Tax on Internet services not approved by the Cabinet. FED reduced to 16 per cent from 17 per cent . IT and IT-enabled services given zero duty regime status. Data storage and Cloud computing included in the definition of IT enabled services.

    Third-party audit

    Tarin said the government was introducing third-party audits which would thwart the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) harassing any individual or business entity. He said those who are found guilty of evading taxes or deliberately hiding their income will be fined severely. 

    Energy sector

    In the budget for the next fiscal year, a special plan for the elimination of circular debt would be introduced. “The government plans to reduce line losses through investment,” Tarin added. Moreover, an electric vehicle policy would also be announced.

    Development expenditures

    In the next fiscal year, the government has increased the PSDP budget to Rs 900 billion from Rs 630 billion. Tarin assured that the government would improve road infrastructure. Furthermore, through PSDP, it will invest in high return projects.

    Agriculture

    Talking about agriculture, the minister said that the agriculture sector witnessed historic growth.

    Unveiling the federal budget, the finance minister announced a national agriculture emergency program. The government plans to enhance livestock on modern lines and has decided to allocate Rs12 billion for the most important sector.

    Dasu, Diamar-Bhasha and Mohmand dams are a part of the budget. Rs91 billion have been allocated for water resources. Moreover, Rs14 billion have been allotted for the Neelum Jhelum power project. Tarin mentioned that the ML-1 project will be completed in three packages.

    Sharing the allocations for next year, he mentioned that Rs22 billion have been allocated to produce 100 MW electricity at Jamshoro. Moreover, Rs22 billion have been allocated for coal-based power projects, Rs16.5 billion for Tarbela fifth extension and Rs118 billion for different power transmission lines.

    Climate change

    The federal minister stated that Pakistan is one of the 10 countries most hit by climate change. Highlighting PM Imran’s vision of planting trees, he said Rs14 billion have been allocated for the government’s vision of “One Billion Tree Tsunami.”

    Rs 118 billion have been allotted under PSDP for the social uplift. Non-tax revenues to rise by 22% during FY22, meanwhile federal expenditures to rise 15%.

    Under the budget, $1.1 billion have been allocated for vaccine import.

  • Budget 21-22: Minimum wage is 20,000 and other key announcements

    Budget 21-22: Minimum wage is 20,000 and other key announcements

    Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Friday presented the Rs 8.48 trillion federal budget for fiscal year 2021-22 (FY22) in the National Assembly.

    Key announcements during the budget presentation

    Rs 900 billion allocated for federal Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) — 40 per cent increase from last year.

    Minimum wage has been increased to Rs 20,000.

    Rs 12 billion allocated for agriculture sector.

    Rs 118 billion for power distribution.

    Rs 61 billion for Viability Gap Fund.

    Rs 14 billion for Climate Change mitigation projects.

    $ 1.1 billion for vaccines procurement.

    Rs 100 billion for Covid-19 Emergency Fund.

    Rs 12 billion special grant for Sindh.

    For Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, the government had set Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth target at 4.8 per cent.

    Large-scale manufacturing sector recorded growth after many years and posted 9 per cent growth during FY-21.

    During the fiscal year 2020-21, tax revenue increased and showed 18 per cent growth as tax receipts crossed Rs 4 trillion.

    Exports increased by a significant 14 per cent as a rebate, duty drawback helped the sector flourish.

    Special economic zones (SEZs) will be used to create jobs which will also ensure growth in exports.

    Highlighting PM Imran’s vision of planting trees, he said Rs 14 billion have been allocated for the government’s vision of “One Billion Tree Tsunami.”

    Non-tax revenues to rise by 22 per cent during FY-22, meanwhile federal expenditures to rise 15 per cent.

     The finance minister said no taxes to be applied on salaried class.

    The government decided to reduce sales tax on electric vehicles from 17 per cent to 1 per cent.

    Federal excise duty has been reduced from 17 per cent to 16 per cent, he said adding that the withholding tax (WHT) will be reduced by 40 per cent.

    The finance minister further added that the WHT on mobile phone services has been reduced from 12 per cent to 10 per cent.

    The government plans to further reduce taxes on mobile phone services to 8 per cent.

    If mobile phone call duration exceeds three minutes, one rupee per call in addition to the rates of duty will be charged.

    For SMS service, ten paisa per sms in addition to the rates of duty will be charged.

    Tax on Internet services not approved by the Cabinet. FED reduced to 16 per cent from 17 per cent . IT and IT-enabled services given zero duty regime status. Data storage and Cloud computing included in the definition of IT enabled services .

    Withholding tax on oil field services, warehousing services and collateral services have been reduced to 3 per cent from 8 per cent

    The Telecom sector will be given industrial status in the fiscal year 2021-22.

    The finance minister also announces a one-year customs duty exemption for electric vehicles.

     Pensioners will get 10 per cent rise. Integrated allowance for Grade 1-5 has been raised from Rs 450 to Rs 900.

  • ‘A budget that will make everyone happy’: PM Khan

    ‘A budget that will make everyone happy’: PM Khan

     Prime Minister Imran Khan hosted lunch for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) parliamentarians and the government’s coalition partners today, where important issues relating to the country’s political scenario and the budget were discussed, as reported by Geo News. 

     The premier was asked whether the budget, which will be presented later in the day, will be a “people-friendly” one.

    “Today, everyone will be happy,” said PM Khan in response. 

    The Opposition is holding a meeting of its parliamentary members, which started at 3:00pm. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif will chair the meeting, which will also include participants from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).  

  • Federal budget to be presented today

    Federal budget to be presented today

    All eyes will be on the National Assembly today (Friday) as the federal budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 will be presented in the lower house of parliament.

    According to Radio Pakistan, the federal cabinet will meet in Islamabad today to discuss and approve budget proposals. Prime Minister Imran Khan will preside over the meeting.

    Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, who presented the Pakistan Economic Survey 2020-21 a day earlier, will unveil the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s budget. The session will begin at 4:00pm.

    The upcoming budget for the new fiscal year is likely to be pro-growth with an overall focus on increasing expenditures.

  • ‘Raiwand’s prime minister’ sent abroad despite conviction: Bilawal

    ‘Raiwand’s prime minister’ sent abroad despite conviction: Bilawal

    Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, while addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Friday, said, “Raiwand’s prime minister” Nawaz Sharif was sent abroad despite being convicted.

    Bilawal said former president Asif Ali Zardari remains in Pakistan, moving from one doctor to another, despite his children telling him to go abroad and seek treatment.

    “If the president [Zardari] is from Nawabshah, he remains on medical bail despite trumped-up charges,” said chairman PPP.

    “I want to ask the prime minister (PM) what sort of accountability and justice is being implemented in the country? I want to ask the PM what kind of rule of law is there within the country?” Bilawal asked, adding that if the premier’s friends are being alleged of a crime, no action is taken against them.

    “This is revenge and political engineering and their ministers themselves accept it has hurt the economy,” added Bilawal.

    “If the prime minister and his sister are blamed for a crime, nothing happens to them,” Bilawal lashed out.

    However, if a former president from Nawabshah’s sister is blamed for something, then she is dragged to jail from her hospital bed, he said, referring to PPP leader Faryal Talpur.

    The PPP chairman denigrated the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and questioned its standards of accountability. “This system is a mockery of the Constitution,” said Bilawal.

    “If the Leader of Opposition is from Lahore (Shehbaz Sharif), he is awarded bail, and if the leader of Opposition hails from Sukkur (Khursheed Shah), he is denied the right and treated like a ping-pong ball — back and forth from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) courts to Supreme Court,” Bilawal said.

    The PPP chairman claimed the authorities were repeatedly blackmailing Shah’s children and his wife.

    Bilawal further said that the party would support Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly on the budget despite the inappropriate behaviour of some Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) members.

    “I unconditionally say to Shehbaz Sharif in front of the media that all PPP members will be in your support with regards to parliament and this [upcoming] budget despite tantrums [of some PML-N members].”

    He said that PPP members would come and vote on the day of the budget and now it was up to Shehbaz as the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly to “do his work and stop the government’s budget.”

    Bilawal was responding to a question on whether the PPP had been contacted on the budget issue and whether it would support the Opposition. He responded that despite the “inappropriate behaviour” of the PML-N and other political parties in the Opposition, the PPP had prioritised national issues and the budget over differences between the political parties.

    “So despite their insults, the PPP went to Shehbaz Sharif’s invitation for dinner so we can rid the people of economic difficulties. Unfortunately, our host was publicly insulted after that dinner by some officeholders of the PML-N,” said Bilawal, adding that flinging statements at guests was not a part of “our tradition, values, and culture”.

    The PPP chairman also lashed out at the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), saying it should have offered resignations the same day or the next when the PPP had “supposedly” refused to listen to its demands and set out for its long march.

    “If they still want to do politics of resignations, then they should have given them by now.”

    Hitting out at the prime minister, the PPP chairman said that the statements since the past few weeks on the state of the economy showed that the “prime minister has no connection to the common man”.

    “The prime minister says Pakistan’s difficult time is over. Not sure about the common man but the IMF’s (International Monetary Fund) difficult time is over, for sure,” he said.

    Bilawal Bhutto said the government’s ministers had come around to accept the PPP’s stance on the economy and expressed the hope that Pakistan would escape the “IMF’s grip” in the budget next week.

    Bilawal similarly hit out at an ordinance for the creation of a new media body and said the PPP would continue to oppose it. He added that the recent attacks on journalists such as Asad Ali Toor or pressure being applied to media personnel such as Hamid Mir through petitions had “exposed the government’s weakness and insecurity”.

  • PTI fudging economic figures, claims PML-N

    A pre-budget seminar was organised by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on June 3 in Islamabad.

    The seminar was organised by the Economic Advisory Council of the PML-N on the direction of party president Shehbaz Sharif.

    Titled ‘Economy sinking under Imran Khan’s government’, the seminar discussed all the economic issues before the upcoming budget. The main focus was on the economic policies of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government.

    Graphs shown during the seminar entailed that Pakistan’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.8 per cent in PML-N’s last year, the highest in 16 years. In addition, GDP growth consistently remained above 4 per cent in each of PML-N’s 5 years. GDP growth has significantly declined during PTI’s tenure with 2.1 per cent growth in 2019.

    PTI is claiming 3.9 per cent growth now in 2021, but this claim is being challenged by independent economists. Whereas, GDP has significantly declined during PTI’s tenure with 2.1 per cent growth in 2019.

    Shehbaz Sharif claimed that the government was pushing out wrong statistics and misinforming the public since the start of the its tenure.

    “The government’s statistics [regarding the budget] have already become a subject of debate,” Shehbaz said while addressing the seminar virtually.

    “Their past is evident and they have been putting forth forged figures,” he said. “This comes on top of the government’s worst performance and major failures.”

    Last week, on Sunday, while addressing the nation live, Prime Minister Imran Khan said the Opposition parties were complaining about the government misleading the nation on the economy as they had not expected it to achieve a growth rate of nearly 4 per cent.

    “The economic growth rate has baffled political opponents who wanted the government to fail in meeting these challenges left behind by our predecessors,” added Khan.

  • ’PPP not discussed in PDM’: Maulana Fazl

    ’PPP not discussed in PDM’: Maulana Fazl

    Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazl ur Rehman on Saturday said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP) were not discussed in the forum, as they are not part of the alliance.

    “They [PPP] can still contact the PDM leadership and apprise them about their intentions. But it is not something that we will waste time over anymore during PDM meetings,” said Maulana Fazl.

    Earlier on Friday, Shehbaz Sharif said that no party has the right to bring or kick another party out of the alliance. “PDM is a forum and decisions are taken with consensus.”

    PDM also rejected the government’s “one-sided” electoral reforms, which include the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs), and announced a fresh wave of anti-government protests.

    “PDM rejects the government’s unilateral electoral reforms ordinance, including the voting machines, and terms it as pre-poll rigging,” said Fazl.

    In this regard, the Election Commission of Pakistan, which is responsible for holding transparent elections, should call a meeting of all political parties to take a unanimous decision on reforms, Fazl added.

    The Opposition alliance announced a future course of action. On July 4, a massive anti-government protest will be held, followed by another one in Karachi on July 29.

    On the occasion of August 14, a massive protest will be held in Islamabad, with PDM showing solidarity with Kashmiris and Palestinians.

    The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will host a budget seminar soon to form a unified strategy during the budget session, while the task to hold the event has been given to PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif.

    The PDM chief said PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif attended the meeting via video, while other Opposition party leaders were present in person.

  • PPP to attend Shehbaz Sharif’s dinner today

    PPP to attend Shehbaz Sharif’s dinner today

    The PPP has decided to attend a dinner being hosted by PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif for members of the opposition parties today (Monday).

    The PPP delegation will reportedly include Opposition leader in the Senate Yousaf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf and Sherry Rehman.

    PPP leader Nayyar Hussain Bukhari said that this was an invitation for opposition leaders and not of the Pakistan Democratic Movement alliance ( PDM). He further added, “Neither does the PDM president nor its secretary-general has the authority to kick PPP out of the alliance.”

    “The differences with PPP could have been resolved over discussions or sit downs instead of sending show-cause notices,” Bukhari added.

    Sources in the PPP said the party’s senior leadership thought attending the dinner would serve in the best interest of the opposition, in giving a tough time to the PTI government in the up coming budget session in the National Assembly, The News had reported.

    As per earlier reports, Shehbaz Sharif invited the opposition leaders for a dinner on Monday, in Islamabad.

    However, PPP and ANP were not invited by the PML-N at an Opposition meeting luncheon in Senate earlier today.

  • READ: PTI govt’s ‘corona budget’ for FY2020-21

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has presented its second federal budget in the National Assembly.

    According to Industries Minister Hammad Azhar, who delivered the budget speech on the floor of the house, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) revenue target for next year has been kept at Rs4.95 trillion, while defence allocations amount to around Rs1.3 trillion.

    The federal development programme has been budgeted at Rs650 billion to support growth prospects.

    The budget for fiscal year (FY) 2020-21 comes at a time when the country is battling the COVID-19 pandemic that has served a severe blow to the economy. According to reports, it has been formulated considering the impact of the virus and to give relief to the citizens, as part of which no new taxes have been imposed.

    Here’s the complete Rs7.13 trillion budget:

    June 12, 2020
  • Buzdar beats Shehbaz in social sector reforms, increases education budget to Rs89.8bn

    Buzdar beats Shehbaz in social sector reforms, increases education budget to Rs89.8bn

    Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar has beaten his predecessor Shehbaz Sharif in reforming the social sector, as an amount of Rs89.8 billion has been earmarked for the provincial education sector.

    As per the details, presenting the provincial budget on Friday, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government enhanced the education budget, which under the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) rule stood at Rs52.35 billion.

    In its last provincial budget for the fiscal year 2017-18, the outgoing PML-N government had allocated Rs52.35 billion for school education and Rs28 billion for providing basic facilities at government schools.

    An amount of Rs6.03 billion had been fixed for the construction of new classrooms in Punjab schools.

    According to the budget presented by the Buzdar administration, health stands second in the social sector with Rs47.5 billion. Water supply & sanitation will gain Rs22.4 billion, local governments Rs6.3 billion, social welfare Rs1 billion and women development Rs0.8 billion.

    Meanwhile, Rs350 billion have been allocated for the Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2019-20, which stood at Rs635bn under the Shehbaz administration in 2017-18.