A budget of approximately 18 trillion rupees for the next fiscal year will be presented in the National Assembly today, which will include nearly 2 trillion rupees in new taxes.
According to details, non-development expenditures will amount to 16.286 trillion rupees in the new budget, while the budget deficit next year is expected to remain at 5% of GDP, which amounts to 6.501 trillion rupees.
There is also a proposal to eliminate tax exemptions across all sectors, with a proposed target of 14.131 trillion rupees for tax revenue and 5.167 trillion rupees for non-tax revenue collection.
Including non-tax revenue, the total target is set at 19.298 trillion rupees. The budget is also expected to include a proposal for a carbon levy at the rate of 2.5%.
The federal development budget is proposed at 1 trillion rupees, which includes the construction of the N-5 highway at a cost of 120 billion rupees. Additionally, the development budget for state-owned enterprises is expected to be 355 billion rupees.
Provinces will be transferred 8.206 trillion rupees during the next fiscal year, and the size of the provincial development budget will be 3.3 trillion rupees. The budget proposes a 10% increase in the salaries of government employees and a 2.5% reduction in tax across all salary slabs.
There is also a proposal to grant a 30% disparity allowance to employees from grade 1 to 16. Pensioners are also expected to receive a 10% increase, with 1.055 trillion rupees allocated for pensions.
Subsidies will receive an allocation of 1.186 trillion rupees in the budget. New tax measures are expected for YouTubers, freelancers, and non-filers.
Sources say the government is also planning to tighten tax collection from retailers. Negotiations with the IMF were taken into account during budget preparation. There is a possibility of increasing the GST on non-filers from 18% to 20%.
There will be no additional charges for purchasing petroleum products through digital payments, but those buying with cash will have to pay an additional 2 rupees per liter. For non-filers, the tax rate on withdrawing more than 50,000 rupees in cash from banks is proposed to be increased from 0.6% to 1.2%.
An allocation of 971 billion rupees is proposed for current expenditures of the civil government.
It is noteworthy that the budget session of the National Assembly, chaired by Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, will be held today at 5 PM. The four-point agenda for the National Assembly session has been released. The first part of the agenda includes recitation from the Holy Quran, Hadith, a Naat in praise of the Holy Prophet ﷺ, and the national anthem.
Following the national anthem, with the Speaker’s permission, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb will present the federal budget. With Speaker Ayaz Sadiq’s approval, the finance minister will also present revenue-related and other documents in the National Assembly.
The finance minister will also present the Finance Bill 2025 in the National Assembly.
