ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar presented the budgetary proposals for financial year 2015-16 before the National Assembly on Friday.
The National Economic Council has already approved Public Sector Development Programme of Rs 700 billion for the next financial year.
The target growth for next year has been set at 5.5 percent with historically low interest rates and infrastructure spending expected to fuel the fastest expansion since the global financial crisis.
The export target for the year 2015-16 has been set as $25.5 billion.
While a relaxation has been given to salaried persons as for salaried individuals making between Rs400,000 to Rs500,000 annually, tax rate has been reduced from 5 percent to 2 percent.
The Budget 2015-16 has put burden over energy users as an additional 10 percent tax has been imposed on electricity bills above Rs 75,000 per month, besides federal excise duty on cigarettes has been raised by 5 percent.
On the other hand, “Forex reserves will be $19 billion by the end of this year,” the finance minister said.
In budget speech minister revealed that Rs20 billion has been allocated for special schemes launched by the prime minister. These include provision of laptops, business loans and interest-free loans, among others.
“We are working for the uplift of the agriculture sector and for this purpose a Credit Guarantee Scheme will be initiated,” Dar said.
“Moreover, crop loan insurance and livestock insurance schemes will be launched.”
Dar announced for this purpose Rs 600 billion have been allocated as compared to Rs500 billion in the previous year.
Markup rate of Business Youth Loan Scheme has been reduced from 8 percent to 6 percent.
