ISLAMABAD: The federal budget for the fiscal year 2025-26 will be presented on June 10, 2025, as officially announced by Khurram Schehzad, Adviser to the Finance Minister, on Friday. This new date comes after an earlier announcement by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who had indicated a June 2nd presentation.
The Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25, which provides a comprehensive overview of the country’s economic performance, is scheduled to be released a day prior to the budget, on June 9, 2025, according to Schehzad’s post on X.
Budgetary outlook & past trends
Last year, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presented his first federal budget with a total outlay of Rs18.9 trillion, which analysts largely described as being “in line with IMF guidelines.” During that presentation, Aurangzeb had emphasized the government’s goal of widening the tax base to avoid placing an undue burden on existing taxpayers.
For the current fiscal year, Pakistan’s total revenue was budgeted at Rs17,815 billion. After accounting for provincial transfers amounting to Rs7,438 billion, the net revenue stood at Rs10,377 billion, representing a significant 48.7% increase from the fiscal year 2023-24. The government also set an ambitious tax collection target for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) at Rs12,970 billion, marking a substantial 38% increase from the previous year’s goal.
Earlier, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed that its executive board had approved funding for Pakistan, stating that the country had “met all the targets” under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme. During a press briefing in Washington D.C., Julie Kozack, IMF Director of the Communications Department, clarified that the loan program for Islamabad was solely for the stabilization of foreign exchange reserves and was not directly related to budget financing.
Kozack stated, “Our Board found that Pakistan had indeed met all of the targets. It had made progress on some of the reforms, and for that reason, the Board went ahead and approved the programme.” This approval provides a crucial vote of confidence in Pakistan’s economic reform efforts as it prepares to unveil its next fiscal plan.
