Finance Minister Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh announced a landmark budget where provincial budgets have been prioritised over the federal. Greater power has been devolved to the provinces for the first time in the history of Pakistan and introduced budgetary austerity and fiscal discipline. He spoke of inflation and excessive government borrowing.
- Three crores worth of energy saver bulbs will be distributed
- The Pak-Iran pipeline will be developed
- This budget tackles issues of food security
- The primary challenge is public sector enterprise. Hemorrhaging public sector organizations like PIA, PEPCO and Pakistan Steel are a burden on the government. Pakistan Steel is losing Rs 1 billion a month
- Introduced subsidies for the poor with an income support programme to be developed for the poor
- The size of the budget is Rs3259 billion which is 10.7% higher than the current year
- The budget defict stands at Rs 6.85 billion which is 4% of GDP
- FBR collection is 4.8% of GDP
- All current government expenditures are frozen in order to divert greater resources to development programmes and pay debts
- The allocation to development programmes is the highest in Pakistan’s history
- Raised the ceiling on non-taxable income to Rs 25,000 a month (Rs 300,000 a year)