Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is unveiling the last budget of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government – a document that will have implications for the ruling party in elections next year.
Already the country’s economy has gone past the 5% threshold this year and Pakistan has now set a target of 6% Gross Domestic Product growth for the upcoming fiscal year. It has earmarked Rs1.001 trillion for the Public Sector Development Programme – a key indicator of development work going on in the country – which is 25% more than last-year’s allocation.
All eyes are on the finance minister as to what he brings to prop up the economy and push Pakistan among the ranks of leading economies, as he mentioned during the unveiling of the Economic Survey 2016-17 a day ago.
Many sectors of the economy hope that the government will come up with some incentives and concessions to help them cope with the challenges of modern times as competition gets stiffer day by day.
But it seems that priority will be given to PM’s pet schemes in an election year.
Women empowerment
“Through the Companies Bill, women have been empowered and will now feature in the board of directors.”
Progress of Pakistan Stock Exchange
Dar did not want to let go off the opportunity to mention the success of the country’s stock market.
He says the market capitalisation – value of all shares – has gone up from $51 billion to over $97 billion in four years.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) KSE-100 Index gave a return of over 45% in dollar terms in calendar year 2016. It was Asia’s top-performing market and the fifth in the world.
Dar says the merger of three exchanges – Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi – should be credited.
“MSCI has already upgraded the PSX and it will be an emerging market from June 1.”
Tax collection
In 2012-13 the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collected Rs1,940 billion and the revenue now stands at Rs3,521 billion for an increase of 81% in four years, says Dar.
The surge in tax collection has come at the back of PML-N’s efforts to penalise non-filers, but is also the result of an increase in indirect taxation.
‘No load-shedding for industrial sector’
Dar says there was no load-shedding for the industrial sector. A visible reduction in load-shedding was seen for domestic households, adds the finance minister.
Opposition members attend NA session wearing black bands.
Opposition announces walkout
Addressing the lawmakers in the National Assembly, Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah says, “We will walkout of the House in protest against the mistreatment to farmers who were only demanding their rights.”
“Today, the government created chaos in the capital by mistreating farmers who were protesting even outside the red zone,” he says. “The authorities used shelling to disperse farmers and they were manhandled.”
Shah asks the NA speaker why the opposition wasn’t allowed to speak, terming it a sign of dictatorship.
In a historic development, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq allows Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah to pass opening remarks.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar willingly steps back to allow Shah make a statement.
