Opposition rejects as Finance Minister presents FY26 budget

Achieving a primary surplus equal to 2.4 percent of GDP, a significant reduction in inflation to 4.7 percent, it should be remembered that two years ago the inflation rate had reached 29.2 percent, a surplus current account is expected to be $1.5 billion compared to the deficit of $1.7 billion last year, the value of the rupee is stable, remittances increased by 31 percent in the 10 months of the current fiscal year to reach $31.2 billion.

We hope that by the end of the current fiscal year, the volume of remittances will reach 37 to 38 billion dollars. The State Bank’s foreign exchange reserves have increased by two billion dollars and will reach 14 billion dollars by the end of the current year. The government had to take tough decisions for economic improvement. The people also made many sacrifices, which yielded positive results.

Our most important economic problem was the persistent weakness of the revenue system. Pakistan’s tax-to-GDP ratio was 10.0 percent, which was insufficient to meet development expenditures and run the administrative affairs of the state. The FBR Transformation Plan was launched. The foundation of this plan is laid on People, Process and Technology.

Digital Transformation: For the first time in Pakistan, complete digital integration between the economy and the tax system has begun. Along with technology, steps are also being taken for human resources. Through data integration, 390,000 non-filers were identified, which made it possible to recover Rs. 300 million. Through fraud analyses, fake refund claims worth Rs. 9.8 billion were blocked. The number of fining and tax payers increased by 100 percent and revenue increased from Rs45 billion to Rs105 billion.