First IMF-approved budget of Pakistan to be presented today
The first IMF-approved budget of Pakistan will be presented by the coalition government today with an expected outlay of over Rs9.5 trillion.
ISLAMABAD: The first IMF-approved budget of Pakistan will be presented by the coalition government led by Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) today with an expected outlay of over Rs9.5 trillion.
Finance Minister Miftah Ismail will present the budget in the National Assembly (NA) at 4:00 pm today. Moreover, the finance minister will also present Finance Bill 2022 and Supplementary grants 2021-22.
Sources told News360 that the draft budget for 2022-23 was discussed by the Pakistani government with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It was learnt that the budget 2022-23 will be presented after getting approval by the IMF.
According to the local media reports, Pakistan and the IMF held a virtual meeting on Wednesday night, during which the Pakistani side revealed key aspects of the upcoming budget for the new fiscal year.
It emerged that the global lender indicated the placement of four to five important prior actions for the revival of the stalled $6 billion programmes.
The federal government is likely to set the revenue collection target at over Rs700 billion for the fiscal year 20222-23 and allocate Rs800 billion for the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).
A development budget worth Rs800 billion has been proposed for the next financial year, out of which Rs538 billion will be allocated for federal ministries and departments.
The government decided to allocate Rs25 billion for Atomic Energy Commission, while Rs41.87 billion will be allocated to Higher Education Commission (HEC), Rs2.5 billion for aviation, Rs84 billion for energy sector, Rs83bn for water schemes, Rs39 billion for housing and planning ministry, Rs9.5 billion for the Ministry of Climate Change, Rs10.47 billion for the Ministry of Home Affairs, Rs12 billion for the health ministry, Rs12 billion for food security and Rs3.1 billion for maritime affairs.
Yesterday, former finance minister Shaukat Tarin predicted that the upcoming budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 will not be people-friendly as it will bring a new wave of inflation, unemployment and increased interest rate as the incumbent government is expected to accept tough conditions of the IMF.
