ISLAMABAD, Jun 12 (APP): Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Aurangzeb on Wednesday proposed 20-25 percent increase in the salaries on ad-hoc basis and 15 percent enhancement in the pensions of the Federal Government employees, realizing their financial hardships due to the increased inflation.
Presenting the Federal Budget for the fiscal year 2024-25, the minister said despite financial constraints, the government had decided to give 25 percent ad-hoc relief in the salaries of employees from Grade1-16 and 20 percent to Grade-17-22 employees aimed at increasing their purchase power.
He also announced to increase the minimum wages from existing Rs 32000 to Rs 37000 per month.
Presenting the federal budget 2024-25 in the National Assembly, the finance minister said that GDP growth target for the fiscal year 2024-25 is fixed at 3.6 percent, whereas the inflation rate is expected to remain 12 percent.
He said that the budget deficit to GDP during the period under review is estimated at 6.9 percent, whereas the primary surplus is projected at 1.0 percent of the GDP.
The minister said that the Revenue collection of the Federal Board of Revenue is estimated to Rs12,970 billion during up-coming fiscal year, adding that tax revenue collection during the current fiscal year grew by 38 percent and the provincial share would be Rs7,438 billion.
He said that the non-tax revenue targets of the federation are fixed at Rs3,587 billion, whereas the net income of the federal government would be Rs9,119 billion.
The total expenditures of the federal government is estimated at Rs18,877 billion out of the total amount of Rs9,775 billion would be spent on interest payments.
The government has allocated Rs1,400 billion for Public Sector Development Program in its current budget, adding that an additional amount of Rs100 billion would be allocated under Public Private Partnership, he added.
This year, he said, over all development budget was the highest in the country’s history comprising Rs1,500 billion.
The minister said that the government would provide Rs2,122 billion for defence, and Rs839 billion would be allocated for Civil Administration.
Meanwhile, an amount of Rs1,014 billion is also allocated for pension expenses, adding that Rs1,363 billion are allocated for the subsidy of the gas, electricity and other sectors.