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June 11, 2022: National / International Current Affairs
1. Budgeting for `hard times` ahead
• Amid ongoing negotiations to convince the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to release bailout payments, the PML-N-led coalition government on Friday presented a federal budget with a mix of real stabilisation measures sugar-coated with feel-good sentiment the revival of petroleum levy with a bang, withdrawal of incentives for construction coupled with taxation on real estate and candles for government employees, income tax payers, industries and solar energy and additional taxes of Rs355 billion to be collected by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
• `Economic stability is our foremost priority … we have to set strong foundations of economic development that is based on sustainable growth,` said Finance Minister Miftah Ismail while presenting the next year`s budget in the National Assembly, adding that economic development would be derived through from exports, particularly of agriculture, information technology and industrial products.
• The most critical moves coming out of the IMF programme in the budget relate to an almost negligible change in subsidies (Rs699bn next year against Rs682bn in the current year) and a reduction in power sector subsidies
2. Govt workers get 15pc salary bump
• The federal government has increased the salaries of government employees by 15 per cent and approved the merger of ad hoc allowances with their basic salary, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail announced during his budget speech on June 10, 2022.
• `The country is witnessing the worst-ever financial crisis,` he noted while making the announcement. `However, the government is cognisant of the problems of government employees. Inflation has adversely affected the purchasing power of people in general, and the salaried class in particular.
• Mr Ismail said the government, despite its meagre resources and extreme financial constraints, was intent on protecting government employees from the effects of inflation
3. Rs1.52tr set aside for defence spending
• The government on Friday proposed an allocation of Rs1.523 trillion for defence services for the fiscal year 2022-23 an increase of 11.16 per cent over the initial allocation for the outgoing year (2021-22), according to the budget documents tabled in the National Assembly.
• The allocation makes up nearly 1.94pc of the GDP and 16pc of the total expenditure planned by the government for the next year.
• The hike is almost at par with the average inflation calculated for the year ending on June 30
4. Rs699bn set aside for subsidies
• The government on June 10, 2022 announced it had allocated RsG99 billion in the federal budget 2022-23 for subsidies to provide relief to the people. Around 92 per cent of the allocated amount will be spent on fuel and electricity subsidies, the documents show.
• The figure represents a slight increase from the Rs682bn allocated to this head last year.
• Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, while unveiling the budget, said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif believed that maximum relief should be given to the people during these hard times, especially to those segments who cannot withstand the coming storm of price hikes. `The government has taken many steps to provide assistance and subsidies for this purpose, but in order to sustain them, we will have to create resources,` he added
5. Rs9.6 billion fixed for climate change ministry
• The federal government has allocated Rs9.6 billion for Climate Change Division under the Public Service Development Programme (PSDP) 2022-23.
• According to a budgetary document released on Friday, an amount of Rs9.5 billion has been allocated for ongoing schemes while Rs100 million earmarked for one new scheme.
• Under the budgetary allocation, Rs23 million have been allocated for ongoing schemes included capacity building on water quality monitoring and sustainable development goals 6 and reporting. An amount of Rs19 million was earmarked for climate resilient urban human settlements
