The Federal Budget 2023-24 has been revealed by the Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Ishaq Dar on Friday, 9th June 2023 in National Assembly. The government has announced the federal budget for 2023-24 of Rs. 14.5 trillion budget which is significantly higher compared to last year’s budget, including Rs. 1,150 billion for development projects.
Federal Government has set the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) tax collection goal at Rs. 9.2 trillion and a non-tax revenue mark of Rs. 2.7 trillion.
IMF
Finance Minister has a budget speech and presents the budget documents before the parliament on the 9th of June, introducing “no new taxes” and predicting economic growth of 3.5% as the crisis-riven country looks to convince the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to give more bailout money.
Here are some salient features of the Federal Budget for 2023-24
No increase in duties on the import of necessary items.
Reduction of tax rates on investments in the Information Technology (IT) Sector and also offer tax relief to freelancers
Imposed 0.25 tax percentage for IT exports.
Rs975 billion in subsidies will be allocated to the energy sector.
Raw materials of diapers and sanitary napkins are exempted from customs duty.
Federal Government has fixed a target of 3.5% for the agriculture sector.
Rs. 50 billion has been set out for the conversion of 50,000 tube wells to solar panels.
Seedlings are now free from all taxes and customs duties.
Govt removes all customs and levies on combine harvesters.
Rs. 10 billion would allocate for loans to small farmers.
Customs duty (CD) of up to 15% has been imposed on the import of agricultural tractors.
Govt allocated Rs. 5 billion for women entrepreneurs in terms of skill development and the Prime Minister Youth Skills Program respectively.
Rs. 97.098 billion has been allocated for Education Affairs and Services
There will be no sales tax for computer parts, laptops, personal computers, notebooks, and other related devices.
Govt increased Withholding Tax (WHT) on international credit and debit card payments such as transactions has been increased from 1% to 5%.
Govt increases the rate of fee on all overseas digital services from 10 to 15 percent under Section 152 (1C).
The government increases the salaries and pensions of government employees.
Grades 1 to 16 will get a 35% increase, whereas the salary of Government Employees of Grades 17 to 22 will get a 30% increase.
The government has also announced a 17.5 percent increase in pensions.
The minimum pension is being increased to Rs12,000.
Rs. 10,000 has been increased for the Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) pension.
The govt will pay the debts of widows up to Rs.1 million through House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC).
The deposit limit in national savings accounts for martyrs is being increased from Rs.5 million to Rs.7.5 million.
The Behbood Savings Certificate deposit has been planned to rise to Rs.7.5 million from Rs.5 million.
The government has reduced Custom Duty (CD) on the import of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) to just 1%.
The custom duty on the import of CKD kits of HEVs has also been reduced the CD on HEV CKD import is 4%, whereas the CD on the import of PHEV CKDs is 3%.
Govt has removed the fixed duties and taxes on the import of old and used vehicles of Asian Makes above 1,300cc.
The Federal Excise Duty (FED) on telecommunication services has been reduced from 19.5 percent to 16 percent.
The 2% tax on the purchase of immovable property through foreign remittances has been removed.
Overseas Pakistanis will be granted the Diamond Card.
Diamond Card can be used to have one non-prohibited gun license, a free passport, priority access to Pakistani embassies and consulates, fast-track immigration, and bumper prizes via a lucky draw.
Govt have increased the prices for both fans and bulbs.
For Imported and locally assembled energy-inefficient you need to pay Rs. 2000 tax per fan, whereas the DC fans and other energy-efficient fans are exempted from this tax.
The govt has planned to impose a 10% withholding tax to promote payments on bonus shares for listed and non-listed companies.
The govt has imposed a flat 0.6 percent tax on non-filer citizens on cash withdrawals over Rs. 50,000.
The federal government has declared its prospective to construct 250 mini-sports complexes across the country.
The inflation forecasts have been modified upwards and will remain at 28.5 -29.0 % against the target of 11.5% for the current fiscal year.
The budget for Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has been increased to Rs. 450 billion.
Rs. 35 billion has been allocated for the poor to get goods like flour, sugar, etc through utility stores.
