Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb on Wednesday addressed the concerns of various stakeholders following the presentation of the federal budget for the fiscal year 2025-26 in the National Assembly.

In the post-budget press conference, Aurangzeb emphasized the importance of the proposed tariff reforms, calling them “very significant” for boosting the country’s exports.

He revealed that the government plans to remove additional customs duties on 4,000 out of 7,000 tariff lines.

Aurangzeb said that the government wanted to provide maximum relief to the salaried class, but added, “The reality is that we can only offer as much relief as our fiscal space permits.”

The country’s tax-to-GDP ratio has reached 10.3% in the current fiscal year. “In FY26 we intend to increase it to 10.9%,” he said.

“We need enabling amendments and legislation to plug leakages in the system, so the government doesn’t have to resort to additional measures,” Aurangzeb said.

The finance minister noted that the government expenditure has increased by 1.9% this fiscal year.

“We have not imposed any additional tax on the agriculture sector,” he said. The government will provide soft-term loans to small farmers.

The finance minister noted that the government expenditure has increased by 1.9%. Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Imdadullah Bosal clarified that the increase is limited to critical needs.

Surcharge on Electricity Bills

On reports regarding the imposition of a 10% surcharge on electricity bills, Chairman FBR, Rashid Mehmood Langrial, clarified that no additional surcharge has been imposed.

Responding to a query on how the federal government could delink population from the National Finance Commission (NFC) award, Auranzgeb maintained, “Everything will be done in consultation with provinces.”

Earlier, reporters staged a boycott of the press conference after the government failed to hold a scheduled technical briefing on the Finance Bill.

Read more

Finance Minister Aurangzeb unveils Rs18.87 trillion budget amid opposition noise

Stationery items will remain exempted from tax, says Aurangzeb

Moody’s says new budget will ‘support’ IMF talks

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday presented the federal budget 2025-26 to the parliament, with a total outlay of Rs17.573 trillion, targeting a GDP growth target of 4.2% against 2.7% in the outgoing year.

Aurangzeb termed the budget the start of a strategy to create a competitive economy and economic productivity to increase exports and fundamentally change the economy’s DNA.

The government has set an inflation target of 7.5% for the next fiscal year. Regarding the fiscal deficit, the government projected a target of 3.9% of the GDP — or Rs5,037 billion — from the outgoing fiscal year’s target of 5.9%.

The primary surplus is targeted at 2.4% of the GDP against the budgeted 2% in the current fiscal year, which has been revised to 2.2%.