TAHIR AMIN

ISLAMABAD: Current expenditure accounted for 95 percent of total federal outlay in 2024-25. This was revealed in the summary of consolidated federal and provincial fiscal operations for fiscal year 2024-25, released by the Finance Division.

Total current expenditure was Rs 16,482 billion and included federal current expenditure of Rs 15,695 billion. The largest component of federal current expenditure was consumed by interest payments -Rs 8887 billion - 57 percent of the total current expenditure - Rs. 7,997 billion was for domestic debt servicing and Rs. 890 billion for external debt servicing.

The breakup included domestic markup at Rs7.997 trillion and foreign at Rs890.281 billion. In other expenditures, pension Rs910.895 billion, running of civil government Rs891.624 billion, subsidies Rs1.297 trillion, and grants to others Rs1.513 trillion.

Pakistan met budget deficit and primary balance target agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program for the fiscal year 2024-25.

However, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) revised revenue target as well as provincial surplus were missed, revealed the

Pakistan’s budget deficit was recorded at Rs6.168 trillion (5.4 percent of the GDP) in the fiscal year 2024-25.The primary balance posted a surplus of Rs2.719 trillion (2.4 percent of GDP).

Total revenue stood at Rs17.997 trillion (15.7 percent of the GDP) against the total expenditure of Rs24.165 trillion (21.1 percent of the GDP) during the fiscal year, resulting in budget deficit of Rs 6.168 trillion (5.4 percent of the GDP). The government had projected budget deficit at Rs7.3 trillion or 5.9 percent of the GDP for fiscal year 2024-25.

Total revenue of Rs17.997 trillion included Rs12.722 trillion tax and Rs5.274 trillion non-tax revenue. FBR recorded total tax collection of Rs. 11.744 trillion for fiscal year 2024–25, compared to Rs. 9.311 trillion in fiscal year 2023–24, reflecting a growth of 26 percent, but missed the revised target of Rs11.9 trillion.

Non-tax revenues amounted to Rs. 5.274 trillion during fiscal year 2024-25. Main reasons for this increase are higher collection of SBP profit, and collections through Petroleum Development Levy (PDL).

Federal non-tax revenue included mark-up (PSEs and others) Rs257.032 billion, dividend Rs186.919 billion, profit PTA and others Rs29.678 billion, surplus profit of State Bank of Pakistan Rs2.619 trillion, defence receipts Rs31.374 billion, passport fee Rs64.360 billion, discount retained on crude oil Rs22.678 billion, royalties on oil, gas Rs178.758 billion, windfall levy against crude oil Rs23.238 billion, petroleum levy on LPG Rs3.343 billion, gas infrastructure development cess Rs859 million, natural gas development surcharge Rs42.942 billion, petroleum levy Rs1.220 trillion, and others Rs277.989 billion.

Total primary current expenditures for fiscal year 2024-25 were recorded at Rs. 12,642 billion, of which federal portion amounted to Rs. 6,808 billion, while provincial governments accounted for Rs. 5,833 billion.

Provinces recorded tax collection of Rs. 979 billion in fiscal year 2024-25, marking a 26 percent rise from Rs. 774 billion collected in the previous fiscal year.

Provincial non-tax revenues stood at Rs. 314 billion, surpassing previous year’s collection of Rs. 223 billion and reflecting a growth of 41 percent. This marks a significant improvement in provinces’ revenue-generating capacity.

In fiscal year 2024-25, total development and net lending expenditures amounted to Rs. 2,966 billion. This included Rs.786 billion for Federal Public Sector Development Programme-IMF format (in domestic accounting format the amount is Rs.1,049 billion), Rs. 2,198 billion for provincial development, and Rs. (-) 18 billion as net lending for federal government.

Total statistical discrepancies amounted to Rs. (–)329 billion, comprising of Rs. (–)193 billion from the federal government and Rs. (–)136 billion from the provincial governments. The main reason for the federal discrepancy was an increase in commercial deposits with scheduled banks. On the provincial side, the statistical discrepancies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan governments were also attributed to increased provincial deposits with scheduled banks, which offset the financial impact observed in Punjab and Sindh governments.

The expenditures of the four provincial governments remained at Rs7.989 trillion as compared to the revenues of Rs8.911 trillion. Statistical discrepancies stood at (-)Rs136 billion during the last fiscal year. Transfer from federal government under NFC remained Rs6.854 trillion.

All four provincial governments recorded a budget surplus of Rs921.456 trillion during the last fiscal year against the revised target of Rs 1.009 trillion.

A breakdown of provincial performance shows that Punjab, with total revenue of Rs3.970 trillion, spent Rs3.622 trillion, generating a surplus of Rs348.463 billion. The province recorded a statistical discrepancy of Rs40.604 billion. Sindh booked a cash surplus of Rs283.042 billion after spending Rs2.327 trillion well below its total revenues of Rs 2.610 trillion. The province also reported a Rs48.059 billion statistical discrepancy. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) recorded a budget surplus of Rs176.175 billion, with Rs1.449 trillion in revenue and Rs1.272 trillion in expenditures. K-P also had a statistical discrepancy of Rs155.134 billion.

Balochistan generated a surplus of Rs113.776 billion, as the province generated Rs880.688 billion in revenue against expenditure of Rs 766.913 billion.