The coalition government in Pakistan headed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has presented its "growth and investment-oriented" budget for fiscal year 2022-23 in the National Assembly.
Miftah Ismail, while presenting the budget proposals on Friday, said that out of the Rs9.502 trillion budget, an amount of Rs 3,950 billion had been allocated for debt servicing and Rs 800 billion earmarked for the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2022-23).
He said an amount of Rs1,523 billion had been earmarked for defence expenditures, Rs550 billion for civil administration and Rs530 billion for pensions. Similarly, Rs699 billion had been proposed for providing targeted subsidies to the poor segments of society.
Miftah said that owing to the high petroleum prices, people earning less than Rs40,000 would be given relief of Rs2,000 per month, which will continue in the FY23 budget as well.
He said that taxes would be imposed on goods that are mainly consumed by the rich to provide relief to the common man.
The finance minister said that the federal government established pension fund and released Rs10 billion for it.
Miftah Ismail said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wanted to extend maximum relief to the people, especially the poor during these difficult times.
"For this purpose, the government has taken several steps to provide subsidy and assistance. However, the continuation of this (relief) will require more resources," he added.
He emphasised on the need to impose special tax on higher income earnings in order to divert the resources to the poor people.
"Our budget philosophy is to enhance agriculture production, especially the edible oil in order to reduce agricultural imports. We need to promote industries to bolster exports and earn valuable foreign exchange," he added. This, he said, will help address the issue of balance of payments on permanent basis.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
