The finance minister said the government also proposed Rs 1,242 billion grants for the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and other departments. The funds for the BISP had been increased from R 250 billion for 2021-22 to Rs 364 billion for 2022-23.
Moreover, Rs 12 billion had been earmarked for provision of subsidy through the Utility Stores Corporation, with Rs 5 billion proposed for the Ramazan Package, he added.
The minister said around 9 million families would benefit from the BISP’s Kafalat Cash Transfer Programme for which Rs 266 billion had been proposed.
Miftah announced 15 percent ad-hoc relief allowance in the basic salaries of the federal government employees, besides merging previous adhoc relief allowances in the basic pay.
He said as the poor segments could not bear the burden of rising inflation, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif intended to give maximum relief to them through targeted subsidies, so the government decided to impose special tax on higher income earnings.
The minister said the government would focus on increasing per acre production of different crops, especially the ones for extracting edible oil, besides strengthening the industrial sector for enhancing exports. “It will help achieve the precious foreign exchange and balance of payments on sustainable basis.”
He stressed the need for better management of tax collection, while effectively tackling the issue of tax-evasion that was rampant during the previous government.
As regards austerity measures, the minister said drastic reduction in government expenditures was part of the budget for which concrete steps would be taken. There would be complete ban on purchase of official vehicles and furniture, except for development projects, he added.
Miftah announced that 40 per cent cut had been proposed on petrol quota of the federal cabinet members and government officials, besides a ban on foreign tours at public expense.
He said in line with the prime minister’s vision, a medium term macro-economic framework had been devised to put the national economy on the consistent path of progress and development.
He said one of the biggest challenges faced by the country was to achieve at least 5 percent GDP growth rate sans current account deficit, taking the GDP from RS 6,700 billion to over Rs 7,800 billion.
The minister said the inflation stood at 11.7 per cent that was the highest during the last 10 years and vowed to bring it down with improved fiscal and monetary policies.
He said the tax ratio in the countries of emerging economies was 16 per cent of their GDP and it was 8.6% in Pakistan, which would be taken to 9.2 percent in the next fiscal year. “In 2017-18, our (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) government had left the tax-to-GDP ratio at 11.1 per cent.”