Azhar enumerates achievements, challenges
ZAHEER ABBASI
ISLAMABAD: The federal government has not only announced a tax-free budget for the next fiscal year but also reduced duties owing to unusual phenomenon of the COVID-19 to provide relief to people, and the industry as poverty would deepen and unemployment increase owing to this pandemic.
This was stated by Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar, while winding up general discussion on budget for the next fiscal year in the National Assembly on Thursday.
He said the government either reduced or abolished 10 different kinds of withholding taxes as well in the budget for the next fiscal year.
The minister dismissed the point raised by the members that the federal government had not been transferring share to the provinces from the divisible pool as agreed under the National Finance Commission (NFC), and stated that the centre had no power to withhold provinces’ share from divisible pool taxes, and so far, Rs565 billion had been transferred to Sindh province while Balochistan got Rs88 billion more than its share.
The minister added that Balochistan and Sindh provinces had also been given preference in Public Sector Development Programme allocation, adding that for the next fiscal year more funds had been allocated for Balochistan and Sindh-related projects.
He also assured the House that recommendations for the next fiscal year’s budget received from the Senate were being deliberated upon and maximum (logical ones) would be incorporated.
He also spoke at length about the state of the economy inherited by the present government and achievements ahead of the coronavirus pandemic that has hit the country, and stated this was not Pakistan specific, and the government was not hiding behind it as more than 200 countries have been badly affected by it.
The minister said that the government would address all the points forwarded to the anomalies committee.
He said prior to the COVID-19, in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, current account deficit was reduced by 73 percent, trade deficit by 31 percent, and the Federal Board of Revenue’s tax collection was increasing by 17 percent, and tax collection would have been more in the last quarter as has always been the case.
“We were confident to achieve the tax collection target of Rs4.8 trillion,” he said.
He said that there was a 134 percent increase in non-tax revenue and foreign direct investment was increased to $2 billion from $1 billion, and exports were showing growth.
He said Bloomberg had declared Pakistan Stock Market as the best performing market and credit rating was improved by Moody’s.
The minister said that the COVID-19 badly affected the situation. He said the budget deficit projected at seven percent of the GDP would now be wide to 9 percent and as per International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast global economy would contract by $10 to $12 trillion, while the size of Pakistan’s economy is only $300 billion.
He said that poverty and unemployment would increase due to contraction in growth and exports.
He also spoke about the Rs 1.2 trillion corona relief package announced by the government, adding that the unutilized amount would be deposited in the corona account for future use.
He said Rs75 billion was set aside for personal protection equipments (PPEs), which were directly provided to the hospitals as well, and distributed Rs150 billion among 16 million people.
He said the 70 percent increase in the country’s debt was due to depreciation of rupee.
The minister said that primary balance was for the first time brought to zero primarily because the government strictly adopted an austerity plan to cut non-development expenditure, and urged the members to unite against the pandemic as even in a country like the US more than 45 million people have been rendered redundant following this pandemic.
