Budget 2015-16 with an outlay of Rs 4313 bn presented
Federal Minister Ishaq Dar presented the budget in National Assembly
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) -- Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar on Friday presented the Federal Budget 2015-16 with an outlay of Rs 4313 billion in National Assembly.
Complete budget can be read here: Budget 2015-16
Take a quick look at the salient features of the budget: 2015-16 Budget Salient Features
19:07 - Loans worth 1 million forgiven to the widows of the martyrs.
19:05 - Imports of solar panels and related equipment to be given exemption in sales tax and custom duty till next year.
19:03 - Rice factories exempted of taxes.
19:03 - Sales tax on agricultural machines to be reduced from 17% to 7%.
7.5% increase in salaries of government employees
19:00 - All pensioners to get an increase of 7.5%.
19:00 - 7.5% ad-hoc relief announced for all government employees.
18:59 - Special Ph.D allowance to be given worth Rs. 10,000 in the government sector.
18:59 - 25% increase in medical allowance for all the government employees.
Special package for Khyber Pakhtunkhawa
18:56 - All new units being set up in KP to be given exemption in taxes.
18:55 - KP will be given priority in tax refunds due to the problems the province has been facing. All refunds to be made by October.
18:54 - KP allowed to do business with Afghanistan in Pakistani rupee.
18:54 - Setting up industry in KP also exempted of turnover taxes.
18:53 - Tax exemption for 5 years for all those setting up industry in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KP).
Tax Exemptions for big employers and renewable energy producers
18:53 - Tax slabs to be reduced to 5 from 6.
18:52 - 700 billion rupees to be allocated for PSDP.
18:50 - Companies setting up Halal meat plants to be exempted of taxes for 4 years.
18:49 - Solar and wind energy producing industries exempted of taxes for 5 years.
18:47 - Import of machinery producing solar or hydel energy exempted of taxes.
18:46 - 10% tax exemption to ocmpanies employing more than 500 people.
18:45 - Taxes reduced on construction importers.
18:44 - Bricks and gravels exempted of sales tax for 3 years.
18:42 - Special packages announced for construction and agriculture sectors. Taxes removed from builders.
18:40 - Regulatory duty on mobile phones to be lifted.
18:38 - Tax on salaried persons reduced to 2% from 5%.
18:37 - Undocumented economy has now become equal to the documented economy of the country.
18:35 - Maximum custom duty which was 25% previously has now been set at 20%
18:34 - Income tax on 400,000 - 500,000 income set on 2%.
18:33 - 29% increase in PSDP budget.
Tax and subsidy updates
18:32 - 15% tax to be implemented on the use of scientific tools.
18:31 - 10% income tax to be imposed on electricity bills worth Rs. 75,000 pr more.
18:31 - 39.20 billion rupees allocated for developing areas.
18:30 - 0.1% advance tax to be imposed on shopkeepers.
18:30 - Minimum monthly wages increased to Rs. 13,000 from the previous 12,000 rupees.
18:29 - 35% tax imposed on banks profits.
18:29 - 3%taxes imposed on non-filer businessmen.
18:27 - Tax ratio on Mutual Fund of 10% will remain unchanged.
18:27 - Capital Gain Tax increased by 2.5%.
18:26 - 6 billion rupees have been allocated for improvement in exports.
18:26 - Business is going to get difficult for those not filing taxes.
18:24 - Excise duty on cigarettes set at 63% with an increase of 5%.
18:23 - 0.6% taxes will be implemented on the bank transactions and business transactions of the non-filers. This tax will not be applicable for the tax-filers.
18:22 - Withholding taxes being increased for non-filers to give an edge to the filers. Any person can become a filer and claim refunds.
18:20 - 7 billion rupees subsidy to be given for utility stores while 3 billion rupees to be allocated for providing subsidies for Ramzan packages.
18:19 - 192 billion rupees will be transferred to the provinces.
18:18 - Fiscal deficit will be brought down to 4.3% this year.
18:16 - 4089 billion rupees have been allocated for the current budget. Remittances have constantly increased while 3115 billion rupees have been expected to come in remittances this year.
18:15 - Remittances have been expected to increase by 1.9% for 2015-16.
Prime Minister s Youth Schemes
18:14 - 700 laptops have been assembled in the local laptop assembling plant while 70,000 laptops have been provided this year.
18:14 - 50,000 internships will be offered to the jobless youth having 16-year education.
18:13 - Ph.D students will be given Rs. 10,000 allowance.
18:12 - Loans will be provided for setting up 30,000 tube wells during the next 3 years.
18:12 - More than 20,000 people have so far benefited from PM s Youth Loan Scheme.
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Subsidies and exemptions in taxes
18:10 - Tax exemption on dairy products has been removed.
18:09 - Loans worth 100,000 rupees can be offered to the farmers.
18:07 - Telecenters will be established with 12 billion rupees.
18:05 - Agriculture loans are according to our targets and new target has been set to 6 billion rupees.
18:04 - Massive investment has recently been observed in livestock sector. Financial help is being provided to the farmers keeping more than 10 cattle.
18:04 - Textile exports target has been doubled.
18:04 - Taxes doubled for some types of mobile phones.
18:02 - To encourage investment in heavy machinery and plants, government has decided to offer facilities to the textile sector.
18:01 - The exporters improving exports by more than 10% will be given special facilities.
18:00 - Rs.64.15 billion have been allocated for Textile industry.
18:00 - Interest rate for export based businesses has been lowered to 4.5%.
17:58 - Tax-collection target set to 3104 billion rupees.
Defence Budget
17:55 - Defence budget has been raised to Rs. 780 billion with an increase of 11%.
17:48 - Rs. 100 billion have been allocated for security purposes and rehabilitation of the Temporarily Displaced Persons (TDP).
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Education Budget 2015-16
17:45 - PM had announced to improve the educational budget to 4% by the end of tenure. We are still committed to our promise. Provincial governments will have to raise the education budget to 3.2% of the GDP and take it to 4% by the end of the tenure.
17:44 - 71.5 billion rupees have been allocated for Higher Education, which is being improved by 14%. This is a huge improvement.
Allocation for Pakistan Railways
17:43 - Rs. 78 billion have been allocated for the railways department and private and foreign investment is expected this year for Railways.
17:43 - Signalling will be improved through modern systems.
17:42 - 170 new engines will be bought this year for Pakistan Railways and 100 will be upgraded.
17:41 - Khanewal-Raiwind and Shahdra-Lala Musa railway lines will be made two-ways during this year. Karachi-Khanpur railway line is going to be restored.
Special allocations for CP Economic Corridor
17:40 - Rs. 3.5 billion for new Gwadar International Airport and 3 billion rupees for water supply in Gwadar are being allocated.
17:40 - 3.5 metric tons will be extracted from Thar every year, a solar energy park in Bahwalpur, second phase of Karakoram Highway and upgradation of Gwadar Package and 200 MW power project in Jhampir, power projects in Sahiwal and others are part of the CPEC projects.
17:40 - CPEC is the vision of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Chinese leadership.
17:39 - Gwadar-Turbat section, Lowari Tunnel, Faisalabad section, Green-Line Bus Transit System are being started in Karachi. The Green-Line Project in Karachi will be able to transport 300,000 passengers daily. Government wants to complete it by December 2016 with the help of Rs. 16 billion.
17:38 - Pakistan has the capacity to connect the entire region. Therefore, we have allocated Rs. 185 billion for highways and roads construction with an increase of 65%. Lahore-Karachi Motorway is government s top priority.
Allocation for Power Projects
18:10 - Subsidy worth 92 billion rupees will be provided to WAPDA and PECO.
18:09 - KESC will be given subsidy worth Rs. 20 billion.
18:07 - Government will pay the mark-up on the loans for the solar-based tube wells.
18:06 - Interest-free loans will be provided to the small farmers for solar-based tube wells.
18:03 - 11 billion dollars have been allocated for Neelum-Jehlum power project.
17:37 - 5 billion rupees have been allocated for Guddu Power Project.
17:36 - Biggest part of the budget has been devised for renewable and cheap energy. Government has set a target to almost eliminate load shedding by the September 2017.
17:34 - Diamir-Bhasha Dam is vital for the country. We have allocated 15 billion rupees for the acquiring of land for this project and Rs. 6 billion for constructing the first phase of this dam.
17:33 - Rs. 142.41 billion will be spent on power projects and 10,000 mega watts will be added into the system by 2017.
Targets for the next financial year
17:32 - Strategy has been finalized to improve public-private partnership. A detailed action plan has been devised to improve their part in GDP growth.
17:31 - Government wants to target 7% GDP growth in 2017.
17:30 - Fiscal deficit will be brought down to 3.5% by 2018 and foreign exchange reserves to be kept above 20 billion dollars by 2018 have been top targets of the country.
17:28 - Scholarships worth Rs. 25 million were provided under Prime Minister s National Program for Information Scholarship. This project will continue in the future.
17:28 - Rs. 2.80 billion have been allocated for expanding the fibre optic network in the country.
17:27 - 12 billion rupees have been allocated for taking the government systems to better e-governance standards.
17:26 - Bait-ul-Maal budget is being increased to 4 billion rupees.
17:25 - Benazir Income Support Program funds are being increased to 102 billion rupees this year. Assistance will be provided to 5.3 million families under this project.
17:24 - Debt management has remained our top priority and public debt will be reduced to 61.89% of the GDP growth and will be brought below 60% during the next 3 years.
17:24 - Agricultural growth target has been set to 3.9% for this fiscal year.
Good news for Pakistan from financial year 2014-15
17:23 - Exports remained low during last fiscal year. We are going to introduce new regulations in this budget that will help improve the exports.
17:20 - Transparency International (TI) had put Pakistan into the Grey area in 2012 but has brought it back into the White area after constitutional changes and strong administrative checks.
17:19 - Bloomberg and World Trade Organization have not only expressed hope in Pakistan but have also appreciated the current performance of the government.
17:19 - Moody s first gave Pakistan the stable status and now has made it Positive .
17:18 - Pakistan s index was -34 in 2013, it has reached +2 now.
17:18 - Japan Internal Trade Organization has declared Pakistan as favorite country for investment.
17:16 - Per Capita income has swelled to USD 1512
17:14: Azaan break
17:13 - Foreign exchange reserves have swelled to 17 billion dollars.
17:12 - Inflation is on an 11-year lowest point.
17:12 - Import in machinery increased by 10.3%, says Ishaq Dar
17:11 - Interest rate has been reduced to 7%, says Ishaq Dar
17:10 - Fiscal deficit remained 5 billion dollars.
17:09 - Growth rate previous year was 4.24%.
17:07 - Collective deficit is Rs 1328 billion, says Ishaq Dar
17:06 - Targets could not be achieved due to floods in 2014, and political protests from September to December 2014, says Ishaq Dar
17:05 - We did not hesitate to take unpopular and difficult decisions, country is now on its way to development, says Ishaq Dar
17:03 - We proved prediction of economic pundits that Pakistan will default by 2014 wrong and Pakistan is now on its way to economic stability, claims Ishaq Dar
17:00 - National Assembly s budget session presided over by Speaker Ayaz Sadiq is underway.
