ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance and Revenue Ishaq Dar on Friday unveiled a Rs14.46 trillion federal budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 with real GDP growth target of 3.5 percent
Presenting the federal budget 2023-24 in the National Assembly, the finance minister said that although the government had set the direction of the economy on the right path, it was still facing challenges. Keeping in view the economic scenario, the government had set the modest growth target and despite being the election year, the government had presented a responsible budget rather than an election budget, he said.
The government increased the salaries and pensions of civil servants by up to 35% and 20pcthrough ad hoc allowances.
According to the details, the salaries of the employees from Grades 1 to 16 will be raised by 35% while a 30% raise will be given to employees working in Grades 17 and above.
The government has also okayed the increase in a pension by 17.5% for the next fiscal year 2023-24.
The total expenses’ estimate, he said was set at Rs 14.46 trillion out of which, Rs 7.3 trillion would be spent on interest payment. He said the budget deficit was expected to remain 6.54 percent and the primary balance would be a surplus of 0.4 percent to GDP.
The tax collection of the Federal Board of Revenu (FBR) for the FY 2024 has been targeted targeted at Rs 9.2 trillion out of which the provincial share would be Rs 5.276 trillion.
The federal non-tax revenues, he said would be Rs 2.963 trillion while total income of the federal government would be Rs 6.887 billion.
Ishaq Dar said that an amount of Rs 950 billion was being allocated for the development projects under Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2023-24. Apart from this amount, he said an additional amount of Rs 200 billion would also be part of the development budget that would be managed through public private partnership.
He said for the country’s defence and civil administration, Rs 1.8 trillion and Rs 714 billion would be provided respectively whereas Rs 761 billion had been allocated for payments of pensions of the employees.
Ishaq Dar said the government had estimated the expenditures of Rs 1.074 trillion for provision of subsidies in electricity, gas and other sectors.
Key proposals in Budget 2023-24
- No increase in duties on import of essential items
- No new taxes for the upcoming year
- Exemption of customs duties on import of seeds for sowing to promote growth in the agricultural sector
- Withdrawal of capping of the fixed duties and taxes on the import of old and used vehicles of Asian Makes above 1300CC
- Services provided by restaurants including cafes, food (including ice cream), parlours, coffee houses, coffee shops, deras, food huts, eateries, resorts and similar cooked, prepared or ready-to-eat food service outlets etc are proposed to be taxed at 5pc if payment is made through debit or credit cards, mobile wallets or QR scanning
- Grant of exemption of sales tax on contraceptives and accessories
- Minimum wage proposed at Rs32,000; wages of government employees from Grades 1-16 and Grades 17-22 to be increased by 35pc and 30pc, respectively
- Increase in withholding tax rate from 1pc to 5pc on payment to non-residents through debit/credit or prepaid cards
- Exemption of customs duties on import of shrimps/prawns/juvenile for breeding in commercial fish farms and hatcheries
- Rs1 billion allocated for health insurance of working journalists
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