Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has presented the federal budget for fiscal year 2017-18 with total outlay of Rs4.75 trillion which is 4.3 percent higher than the last year’s budget.The availability of the financial resources during the fiscal year has been estimated at Rs 4.6 trillion and the net revenue receipts have been estimated at Rs 2.9 trillion.The Federal Board of Revenue has been tasked to collect Rs4.01 trillion tax revenue for the year.At least at Rs 2.3 trillion are estimated to come from the provinces under the head of federal taxes and the net capital receipts are assessed at Rs552.5 billion.There will be slight increase in the total expenditures for the year and a major chunk of the budget will go to the education, defence, science and technology as well as power and nuclear energy projects.The development expenditures for the year are set at Rs1.001 trillion, which are 40 percent higher than the last year when Rs715billion were earmarked under this head.The defence allocations have been set at Rs920.2 billion. A huge amount of Rs 180 billion has been earmarked for the China Pakistan Economic corridor out of which 160 billion will be spent on the construction of roads and bridges. The government has already spent Rs 231 billion on the game changer project during the last three years. At least Rs1 trillion are earmarked for agricultural loans for the year. The finance minister claims the budget covers all the aspects of the economy which is rising at a rate of over five percent and has crossed $300 billion mark.
According to the budget estimates, the government is expected to receive Rs 837.8 billion from external resources and total availability of the resources is estimated at Rs 4,681.2 billion. At least Rs 2.1 trillion have been earmarked for the Public Sector Development Programme, including federal and provincial allocations, showing an increase of 26 percent as compared to the budget estimates of the previous year and 37.3 percent to the revised estimates of the same period. At least Rs 40 billion are earmarked for special federal development programmes, Rs 12.5 billion for energy, Rs12.5 billion for potable water supply, Rs 7.5 billion for earthquake victims, Rs 45 billion for IDPs and Rs 45 billion for security enhancement in the country. At least Rs 50 billion will be spent on various educational programmes during the year.
The annual presentation of the federal budget has become a routine affair in the country, but it is hoped the current government will fulfill its promises and will implement the budget in letter and spirit. The nation also hopes that there will be no mini-budget during the year and efforts will be made not only to document the economy, but also to simplify the tax procedure.
