The federal PSDP budget stood at Rs 727 billion, a decrease of 19 per cent over the previous year; Provincial PSDP allocation also reduced by 16 percent.
Finance Minister Mifta Ismail presented the budget for the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) in the National Assembly on Friday.
This year’s budget session was less chaotic than some of the previous presentations during the PTI-led government with no opposition present in the House as PTI members tendered their resignations.
Ismail began his speech by cursing the previous PTI government, saying that its policies have damaged the economy and harmed the lives of the people of the country.
“An inexperienced team brought the country to the brink. Different people presented the budget every year with different policies, which hurt the sentiments of investors,” the finance minister said. of the hour
Soon after the budget was presented in the lower house of parliament, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif took to Twitter to reassure the public that the government was ready to take tough decisions in an attempt to correct “years of economic mismanagement”.
“These are the difficult times brought to us by the economic mismanagement of recent years. Through this budget, my government will find our way out of these challenges by taking the least drastic decisions. [the] impact on weaker sections of [the] population,” he said.
major budget proposal
- Minimum tax bracket for small businessmen raised from Rs 0.4 million to Rs 0.6m. Will be done
- Minimum taxable income limit on salaried class to be raised from Rs 0.6 million to Rs 1.2 million per annum
- 15 percent hike in salary of government employees
- Sales tax exemption on import and distribution of solar panels
- Advance withholding tax will be charged from foreign senders through credit, debit and pre-paid cards
- Advance tax to be increased on cars above 1,600cc
- Full customs duty exemption on pharmaceutical ingredients
- 51 billion rupees proposed for education projects
- Rs 24bn for health sector
budget outlay
The budget outlay this year is Rs 9,502 billion, which is nearly one trillion rupees more than last year’s outlay.
current expenditure
The government has budgeted a total current expenditure of Rs 8,694 billion for the fiscal year 2013, which is 15.5 per cent higher than last year’s budget figure.
Defense expenditure is budgeted at Rs 1,523 billion, which is 17.5 per cent of the total current expenditure and an increase of 11.16 per cent over the previous year.,
interest payments, or Debt servicing, in the budget for FY13, increased by 29.1 per cent from the previous year to Rs 3,950 billion – the government’s single largest expenditure, accounting for 45.4 per cent of total current expenditure.,
net federal revenue
The total revenue budget for FY23 is Rs 9,004bn. After subtracting the provincial transfers of Rs 4,100 billion as part of the National Finance Commission (NFC) award, net revenue comes to Rs 4,904 billion, up nine percent from last year.
FBR tax target
The government has set a tax collection target of Rs 7,004 billion for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for FY13, up 20.1 per cent from Rs 5,829 billion in the previous year.
fiscal deficit
The fiscal deficit, or overall budget deficit, which is the difference between the government’s total expenditure and revenue, is calculated as follows: Gross revenue Rs.9,004bn (zero) Transfers to provinces Rs.4,100bn (plus) provincial Surplus Rs.800bn (debt) Total expenditure Rs.9,502 billion
For FY23, the total deficit is estimated to be Rs 3,798bn, which is 4.9pc of GDP. Last year the deficit was estimated at 6.3 per cent of GDP.
psdp
The total allocation for the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) has been budgeted at Rs 2,158 billion for FY13, just one per cent more than Rs 2,135 billion last year.
Under this, the federal PSDP creates Rs 727 billion, a decrease of 19.2 pc from last year’s budgeted amount of Rs 900 billion.
The provincial PSDP for FY23 has been allocated at 1,432bn, a 16pc decrease from last year’s budget of 1,235bn.
development target
“The problem with our economy is that the growth is 3-4 per cent, but when it goes up to 5-6 per cent, our current account deficit gets out of control, because we give priority to the elite, making our Imports increase. We need to adopt new thinking, to facilitate the low-income group to increase domestic production,” the minister said.
He said that the government has to move towards ‘sustainable development’ and the growth target for the next year has been set at five per cent.
inflation
Ismail said, “The government is aware that the common man is facing high prices and we are trying our best to bring them down.” He said the government had set a target of 11.5 per cent inflation for the next year.
immovable property tax
government has imposed Capital gains tax on immovable property kept at 15 per cent for up to one year, which will come down to 0 per cent every year after six years by 2.5 per cent.,
Advance tax on sale and purchase of property has been kept at five per cent for non-filers while it is two per cent for filers.
Header Image: Finance Minister Miftah Ismail presenting the budget in the National Assembly. — Dawn News TV