Abb Takk News
Abbtakk Pakistan Business MOST POPULAR News Ticker Pakistan Top News TRENDING

Financial Year 2022-2023 Budget Of Rs Nine Thousand and 500 Billion Presented

Islamabad: Amid an inherited severe financial crisis, the two-month-old coalition federal government on Friday announced budget for fiscal year 2022-23, with a total outlay of Rs 9.502 trillion.

The budget specially focused on fiscal consolidation to curtail overall deficit, prioritizing practical austerity measures along with strategies to enhance tax-to-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio, reduce gross public debt, slice trade and current account deficits, and promote sustainable economic growth.

Announcing the radical national development and pro-common man initiatives in the National Assembly, Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail said the budget was being presented at a critical juncture as the previous government had caused a huge damage to the economy during its three years and nine months tenure.

He said the government had embarked on introducing drastic measures in the Federal Budget 2022-23 to uplift and put the economy on sustainable growth trajectory.

The finance minister said out of total Rs 9.502 trillion budget, an amount of Rs 2,950 billion had been allocated for debt servicing and Rs 800 billion earmarked for the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP 2022-23)

The Federal Budget 2022-23 with a total outlay of 9502 billion rupees has been announced, encompassing measures for sustainable economic growth, industrial and agriculture development and relief for the poor people.

Debt Servicing
Presenting the budgetary proposals for the next fiscal year in the National Assembly on Friday, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said 3950 billion rupees will be spent on debt servicing.

PSDP
He said that a budget of 800 billion rupees has been earmarked for the next year’s PSDP.

Defence
He said 1523 billion rupees has been set aside for country’s defence

Civil Administration Expenditure
and 550 billion rupees for civil administration’s expenditure.
Pension
Besides, 530 billion rupees have been allocated for pension,


Subsidies For Poor People
As many as 699 billion rupees for targeted subsidies for the benefit of the poor people.

Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), Bait-ul-Mal

An amount of 1242 billion rupees has been proposed for grants, which include the grants of Benazir Income Support Programme, Bait-ul-Mal and other departments. The Finance Minister said the budget of BISP has been increased to 364 billion rupees for the next fiscal year.

Benazir Kafalat Cash Transfer Programme
The Finance Minister said the facility of Benazir Kafalat Cash Transfer Programme will be available to nine million deserving families under BISP in the next fiscal year. For this, 266 billion rupees have been reserved.

Benazir Education Stipend Programme

Miftah Ismail said that the scope of Benazir Education Stipend Programme will be expanded to ten million children. Over 35 billion rupees have been proposed for this programme. Ten thousand more students will be given Benazir Undergraduate Scholarship at a cost of nine billion rupees.

Benazir Nashonuma Programme

The network of Benazir Nashonuma Programme will be expanded to all the districts, which will cost about 21.5 billion rupees. Besides, six billion rupees have been set aside for Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal for the medical treatment and assistance of deserving families.

Revenue Target
The Minister said that FBR revenue has been estimated at 7004 billion rupees for the next fiscal year. This includes 4100 billion rupees share of provinces. The net revenue with the Federal Government will be 4904 billion rupees. The non-tax revenue will be 2000 billion rupees.

Utility Stores Corporation
12 billion rupees have been allocated for provision of subsidy on essential commodities through Utility Stores Corporation.

Ramzan Package

An additional amount of five billion rupees has been set aside for Ramadan Package.

Higher Education Commission (HEC)

The Finance Minister said we have earmarked 65 billion rupees in the current budget for Higher Education Commission. In addition 44 billion rupees have been allocated for the development schemes of the HEC which is 67 percent higher than the previous year. He said this is manifestation of our commitment towards the youth. He said we are encouraging the provinces to fully fulfill their responsibilities regarding promotion of higher education in the coming years. The HEC budget envisages five thousand scholarships for the students of Balochistan and tribal districts. He said a separate scholarship scheme has also been included for the coastal areas of Balochistan.

Laptops For Youths

The Finance Minister announced to provide one hundred thousand laptops on easy installments to the students across the country. Funds have also been allocated for provision of state of the art equipment to upgrade education of engineering and technology.

Austerity The Top Priority Of The Govt

The Finance Minister said austerity is the top priority of the present government. Reducing government’s expenditure is part of this budget and we are taking concrete steps in this regard. He said there will be complete ban on purchase of vehicles. Except, development projects, there will also be a ban on procurement of furniture and other items. The petrol quota of cabinet members and government officials will be reduced by 40 percent. There will also be ban on foreign tours under government expense, except the important ones.

Subsidies For Energy Sector

The Finance Minister said that the energy sector has pivotal importance for the people as well as the industries and trade. For these sectors and the people we gave an additional subsidy of 214 billion rupees. He said 573 billion rupees have been earmarked in the next financial year so that the people could afford the electricity in the harsh weather of summer. He said we released 248 billion rupees for the payment of outstanding amounts in the petroleum sector and 71 billion rupees will be provided in the next fiscal year. He said we will soon announce the new gas tariffs which will be aimed at providing gas to the industries at competitive rates which will help in bolster exports.

GDP For Next Fiscal Year

Miftah Ismail said the GDP will be enhanced from 67 trillion rupees to 78.3 trillion rupees during the next financial year.

Measures For Reducing Inflation

He said we are trying to reduce inflation by better fiscal and monetary policies. The inflation will be reduced 11.5 percent during the next fiscal year.

Tax To GDP Ratio

He said the tax to GDP ratio is estimated to the increase to 9.2 percent from the current 8.6 percent during the next financial year.

He recalled that we had left this ratio at 11.1 percent in the year 2017-18. He said the overall deficit which currently stands at 8.6 percent will be gradually brought down.

This will be brought down to 4.9 percent in the next fiscal year. Similarly, the overall primary balance which is currently -2.4 percent of the GDP will be improved to 0.19 percent.

Imports

The Finance Minister said the imports, which are expected to be 76 billion dollars during the current fiscal year will be reduced to 70 billion dollars in the next financial year. At present, exports are 31.3 billion dollars, which will be enhanced to 35 billion dollars in the next fiscal year. The current account balance will be reduced to -2.2 percent of the GDP from the current -4.1 percent.

Remittances

The remittances which will remain 31.1 billion dollars during the current fiscal year are expected to rise to 33.2 billion dollars in the upcoming fiscal year.

Miftah Ismail said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wants 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. He, however, said that the continuation of this will require more resources.

To achieve this, there is a need to impose special tax on higher income earnings in order to divert the resources to the poor people.

Miftah Ismail said our budget philosophy is to enhance agriculture production, especially the edible oil in order to reduce agricultural imports, separately. We need to promote industries to bolster exports and earn valuable foreign exchange. This, he said, will help address the issue of balance of payments on permanent basis.

According to the vision of Prime Minister, the Finance Minister said a medium term macro economic framework has been prepared to put the economy on the path of development. He expressed the confidence that we will be able to put the economy in the right direction through this framework. He said our biggest challenge is to achieve growth without Current Account Deficit. Therefore at least five percent will be achieved without disturbing the balance.

Earlier, the National Assembly resumed its session at the parliament house in Islamabad today [Friday] with Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf in the chair.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail presented the budget for the next fiscal year.