Dar unveils Rs 14.4 trillion relief oriented federal budget

Celina Ali

Islamabad: Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Ishaq Dar on Friday unveiled the Rs14.46 trillion relief-oriented 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 although the government had set the direction of the economy on right path, it was still facing challenges. However, keeping in view the economic scenario, it had set the modest growth target and despite being the election year, presented a responsible and balanced budget and not a popular one.

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. The budget deficit was expected to remain 6.54 percent and the primary balance would be a surplus of 0.4 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP).

The minister said the tax collection target of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for the next fiscal year had been fixed at Rs 9.2 trillion, including provincial share of Rs 5.276 trillion.

The federal non-tax revenues, he added, would be Rs 2.963 trillion while total income of the Federal Government would be Rs 6.887 billion.

Ishaq Dar said an amount of Rs 950 billion was being allocated for the development projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2023-24. Moreover, an additional amount of Rs 200 billion would also be part of the development budget that would be managed through public-private partnership, he added.

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 the payments of employees’ pensions.

Ishaq Dar said the government had estimated an expenditure of Rs 1.074 trillion for the provision of subsidies in electricity, gas and other sectors.