[ad_1]
President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday gave assent to the government’s tax-heavy Finance Bill 2024 for next year’s federal budget.
The government had presented the budget two weeks ago, drawing sharp criticism from opposition parties, especially the PTI, as well as coalition ally PPP.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb had moved the finance bill in parliament, which had been opened to seek amendments and debate by the ruling alliance led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and its opposition.
Opposition parties, mainly parliamentarians backed by currently incarcerated former premier Imran Khan, rejected the budget, saying it would be highly inflationary. Earlier this week, the PPP — which had initially boycotted the debate over the budget — decided that it would vote for the finance bill despite certain reservations.
Today, President Zardari gave the approval to the bill in accordance with Article 75 of the Constitution, the media wing of the President House said.
The bill would be applicable from July 1 (tomorrow).
Under Article 75 (1), the president has no power to reject or object to the finance bill, which is considered to be a money bill as per the Constitution.
The article reads “When a Bill is presented to the President for assent, the President shall, within [ten] days,–(a) assent to the Bill; or (b) in the case of a Bill other than a Money Bill, return the Bill to the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) with a message requesting that the Bill or any specified provision thereof, be reconsidered and that any amendment specified in the message be considered”.
The development comes two days after the National Assembly passed the budget with some amendments.
Budget
On Friday, the government had extended exemptions in specific sectors while announcing new tax measures in several areas to generate additional revenue in the coming fiscal year to meet the International Monetary Fund’s criteria.
These include introducing a capital value tax on property in Islamabad, implementing new tax measures on builders and developers and reducing the Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) on diesel and petrol.
Policymakers have set a challenging tax revenue target of Rs13 trillion rupees for the fiscal year starting July 1, up about 40 per cent from the current year, in the national budget presented on July 12 that looked to strengthen the case for a new rescue deal with the IMF.
Pakistan is in talks with the IMF for a loan of $6 billion to $8bn.
The government has projected a sharp drop in its fiscal deficit for the new financial year to 5.9pc of GDP, from an upwardly revised estimate of 7.4pc for the current year.
The central bank has also warned of possible inflationary effects from the budget, saying limited progress in structural reforms to broaden the tax base meant increased revenue must come from hiking taxes.
The upcoming year’s growth target has been set at 3.6pc with inflation projected at 12pc.
[ad_2]
Source link
