Federal Finance Minister Miftah Ismail presented a budget of Rs. 95 trillion for the financial year 2023-22.
In the National Assembly sitting chaired by Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail started presenting the budget.
The PTI did not enter the House as usual and the opposition seats remained vacant.
Highlights of the budget
The total expenditure is estimated at Rs. 9,502 billion.
Rs. 3,144 billion has been set aside for debt repayment.
Rs. 800 billion has been earmarked for the public sector development program.
Rs. 1,523 billion has been earmarked for national defense.
Rs. 550 billion has been earmarked for civil administration expenditure.
Rs. 530 billion has been set aside for pensions.
Rs. 699 billion has been earmarked for subsidies.
Small businesses with an annual income of 600,000 will not be taxed.
Rs. 364 billion has been earmarked for Benazir Income Support Program.
One crore students will be given unparalleled scholarships.
Rs. 109 billion has been allocated in the budget for education.
At least more than 100,000 monthly salary will be taxed.
Those earning less than Rs 40,000 per month will be given Rs 2,000 per month.
The salaries of government employees have been increased by 15%.
Taxes on vehicles of 1600 cc and above have been increased.
Zero sales tax will be levied on solar panel imports.
Rs. 10 billion has been earmarked for climate change.
Introducing the budget speech, the finance minister said that all the federal units were represented in this government and therefore the decisions taken on the national economy had the broad support of the nation.
He said that the government was facing a difficult challenge to rectify the deteriorating economic situation created due to poor performance of last four and a half years.
During this period economic mismanagement was on the rise due to which the common man was badly affected and the rupee depreciated sharply and the price of everything went up.
Criticizing the PTI government, the finance minister said that an inexperienced team had brought the country to the brink of disaster during the last four and a half years, adding a new budget every year and As policy changed, hurting investor confidence, they became accustomed to changing positions in front of the international community and international financial institutions, so the IMF’s program, which was due to end this year, was in February was suspended and the fundamental reforms that were supposed to take place in 2019 have not yet taken place.
The Finance Minister said that fundamental reforms are needed to rectify the structural deterioration of the economy, which has an immediate negative reaction but the economy is on a strong footing, the previous government refrained from such measures.
However, all those reforms have been delayed due to which the economy could not stand on its own feet today and prosperity has gone away.