ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has said that Pakistan is going through the most difficult period at present. The IMF is not happy with us, the government will have to make more difficult decisions.
Addressing a post-budget press conference in Islamabad along with Information and Broadcasting Minister Maryam Aurangzeb, Minister of State for Finance Ayesha Ghous Pasha and Chairman FBR Asim Ahmed, the Finance Minister said that the economic team has worked hard and played a significant role in budgeting. But be thankful.
The Finance Minister said that due to the performance of government employees, their salaries have been increased by 15%. Pakistan is standing in a difficult time and that is why we have given a budget in a difficult time. Gave circular date of Rs. 500 billion. 1100 billion in electricity subsidy, ie Rs. 16 per unit on electricity subsidy. “I have never seen such a difficult time in the past as I am seeing today,” he said.
The Finance Minister further said in a press conference that the subsidy for gas and power sector has been abolished. The federal budget is facing a deficit of Rs 459 billion. The system of fixing electricity prices is bad, there are defects in transmission and distribution, if they are not fixed then the country will be drowned. The country’s economy cannot bear such a heavy burden.
The Federal Minister said that a circular debit of Rs. 1400 billion has been made in gas. Ordered LNG for 20 20 and sold for ڈالر 2. The finance minister said he would not close anyone’s factory. If the previous government had an agreement with someone to provide cheap gas, we would give them gas. UFG is 20% in SSG, we don’t even know if this gas is being stolen or flying in the air.
Finance Minister Muftah Ismail added that the country would have to recover administratively. We were ahead of Bangladesh in the 90’s, what is the reason we have come to this path. If a situation like Sri Lanka happens then people will not forgive. He said that he wants the support of the people. Gas and power sector subsidies have been scrapped, spending is rising by only 3%.
The Federal Minister for Finance said that Imran Khan has made a comeback with the whole country. Under Imran Khan, there was a historic economic deficit. The IMF is not happy, but we will talk to them. At present, the government has no option but to make difficult decisions. That is why the government has taken difficult decisions and if necessary more difficult decisions will be taken. The budget is also a link in this chain.
The federal minister said that there would be some tightening in the monetary policy. We are not able to use even five percent of the country’s resources. Introduced fixed tax schemes for traders. During the press conference, Chairman FBR Asim Ahmed said that 2.5 million traders would be brought under this scheme.
Minister of State for Finance Ayesha Ghous Pasha said that difficult decisions are aimed at getting the country out of crisis. Efforts are being made to minimize the impact on the people. Increased funding for the Social Security Net program for the underprivileged. Incentives have been given to the agricultural sector, the main purpose of which is to control inflation so that goods can be produced locally.
Answering a journalist’s question, the finance minister said that 25,000 shopkeepers would be included in the tax net. Imposing minimal taxes on shopkeepers. The rest will be included in the budget. There will be some small changes in the budget in the next 15 days.
The finance minister said that it does not look like oil prices will come down in the world market. If PDL tax is levied then inflation will increase. If petrol is expensive then money will be spent on the nation. The army budget is also available in writing, nothing is hidden. We have tried to use the share of rich people to get the country out of trouble.
Muftah Ismail said that it was the Prime Minister’s intention to take the companies towards privatization. The work which has been kept ready for sale by the privatization commission will be completed. The case of EOBI has not been seen yet, we will see later.
