No change in federal budget as Aurangzeb wraps up NA debate

ISLAMABAD: Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said there is no change in the budget figures, clarifying that the impression of a discrepancy was created due to misinterpretation.
Winding up the budget debate in the National Assembly, the finance minister said most recommendations from the Senate and National Assembly standing committees are being made part of the federal budget.
The Finance Minister has declared that the Federal Budget 2026-27 is going to lay the foundation for export-led economic growth in Pakistan.
Senator Aurangzeb recalled that MNAs have presented their opinions on the proposed budget during the debate, adding reservations were also voiced in some proposals. “But, we have gotten very clear feedback from within and outside the House that this is overall a positive and pro-growth budget, which sets the foundation to accelerate the sustainable growth witnessed over the last two years,” he added.
Aurangzeb said an improvement had been witnessed in the export sector as IT exports had gone up by 20 percent. The minister said the government had presented people’s-friendly budget. “We have substantially increased salaries and pensions of the government employees,” he said, adding furthermore, taxes on the employees had been reduced as well.
He said the government had made it easier for retired employees to receive their pension. “Now they can receive their pensions while sitting at their homes.” “The government has also reduced taxes on property and agriculture,” the minister elaborated.
Aurangzeb informed that the government was increasing cooperation with China in the agriculture sector. “The government is going to build ‘Agricultural Cold Storage’, on which Rs7.1 billion will be spent,” he said, adding an amount had been allocated in the budget for farmers so that they could borrow loans on easy instalments.
On remittances, he said that during the last few months, overseas Pakistanis had sent $4.2 billion back home; an amount, which will reach $41 billion at the end of the ongoing year. He went on to say that headway had been made on several fronts. “We have introduced basic reforms in the tax system,” he informed.
He said that the government improved economic indicators during the ongoing FY. “Our foreign exchange reserves are stable,” he added.
The minister said that it was due to the efforts made by Field Marshal Asim Munir and the government that finally a peace deal was struck between Iran and the USA. “I congratulate the Field Marshal and the government on that,” he said.
Speaking about the budget proposals, Aurangzeb stated that a “sustainable and inclusive export-led growth that increases productivity” was the fundamental objective of the government and the budget. “We often hear and see that the documented corporate sector and salaried class have to bear most of the tax burden. The government has changed this trend and thinking in the budget, and focused on deepening and broadening rather than burdening,” he contended.
“We had initiated this change in the last budget and clarified our direction. In this budget, we have taken additional and concrete initiatives regarding it,” the finance minister affirmed. He added the burden of existing taxpayers – particularly the salaried class, small businesses, exporters and industrialists – would be reduced under the FY27 budget, keeping in mind the “principles of equity and fairness”.
“We have ensured the provision of concessional loans for importers and the agriculture sector,” Aurangzeb said, emphasising that the Fixed Asaan Tax Scheme has been introduced to broaden the tax net.
Elaborating on reforms brought in the tax sector in the past two years, he said: “We have detached tax policy from tax administration. We are introducing a new tax operational model in the continuation of these reforms, under which the interaction between a taxpayer and a tax officer will be removed.
“The process of audit, identification and implementation will be conducted through an automatic system,” he said, adding these reforms aimed to end discretionary powers and prevent harassment through digitisation and promote transparency.
Responding to remarks made by some lawmakers on the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) performance, Aurangzeb said while the government welcomed constructive criticism but stressed the need to consider the context.
Presenting a “comparative analysis”, he noted that an additional $14 billion were collected in revenues from 1988 to 2011. “Similarly, additional revenues of $14b were collected in the next 13 years from 2011 to 2024. Compared to this, in the brief period of the past two years, our government has secured additional revenues of $14b,” he stated.
On the discussions held about the agricultural sector during the budget debate, Aurangzeb affirmed the sector was the “backbone” of Pakistan’s economy and the government had announced satisfactory relief and developmental packages for farmers. He noted the Zarkhez-e-Scheme had been initiated, under which interest-free and collateral-free loans were being provided to 750,000 small-scale farmers.
He further said Rs9.5b have been allocated in the FY27 budget for subsidies in the Prime Minister’s Youth Business and Agriculture Loan Scheme (PMYB&ALS), under which loans worth more than Rs109bn will be given.
To keep fertiliser prices within control, a package of Rs15.8b has been announced in the budget, which includes a Rs10b subsidy on urea fertiliser, he said and went on to mention the Rs4.2b earmarked for development programmes in the agriculture and livestock sectors. He added an import duty relief worth Rs2bn was being given to abolish duties on tractors, combined harvesters and other equipment to modernise agriculture. -NNI