Islamabad:
The Government decided on Friday to proceed with its plan to present a complete budget of fiscal year 2025-26 in the middle of a suggestion to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to present a short-term budget and also obtain provincial contributions to comply with the highest defense expenses.
The participants of a budget preparation meeting also urged the government to assign substantial funds for national defense and accelerate the completion of the Diamer-Basha dam, citing the movement of India to celebrate the Indo Water Treaty in Abeyance.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister also asked the Federal Income Board to tax the income of the Islamabad club, which is the recreational place for the country’s bureaucrats, foreign diplomats and the richest people in society.
The prime minister presided over the meeting of his cabinet ministers and the country’s high-ranking business leaders to discuss the 2025-26 budget, which will be announced in the first week of June.
There was a suggestion at the meeting that, due to prevailing tensions with India, the government should provide the maximum possible money for defense and also consider the option to give a shorter budget of a year, according to multiple participants of the meeting.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif did not immediately share his mind in the proposal. The Constitution offers a space to give a four -month budget. But an official of the Ministry of Finance said that the government’s plan to present the entire Fiscal Year 2025-26 remained intact.
The Ministry of Finance has ensured the complete provision of resources to deal with the conflict situation created by India and has proposed an increase of at least 18% in the allocation for the next fiscal year on this year’s expenses.
There was also a proposal at the meeting that the Government should freeze the development budget of the next fiscal year in this year’s real expense, which may not cross the 600 billion rupees due to a low expense so far.
The sources said that some members of the cabinet also suggested to give the maximum money for the completion of the Diamer-Basha dam so that the deposit is completed as soon as possible to store water.
Participants urged to build enough currency reserves to meet unexpected import needs during tension times.
One of Pakistan’s richest people suggested the prime minister to reduce the swollen government size. Private sector participants also asked the Prime Minister to reduce taxes on textile exports and also suspend the export development surcharge that is collected from exporters.
One of the participants urged the government to prohibit economic transactions by non -filtering, including the prohibition of grain trade for them.
An official press release stressed that the prime minister said that providing relief to the common man in the next budget was the priority of the government, and that complete resources will be used to reduce the financial difficulties of the poor and middle class.
The Prime Minister directed that the next budget should be prepared with an approach to sustainable growth driven by export and consider projects to promote industries and increase production. The budget must also focus widely on job creation, agriculture, information technology, small and medium enterprises and the housing sector, Sharif said.
