Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb declared on Tuesday that countries are sustained by their tax revenues, not by charity, following Pakistan’s 2.38% GDP growth, which exceeded the planned 2% growth rate.
All individuals are required to make contributions to this economy; there are no exceptions. Since governments are funded by taxes, but schools, hospitals, and colleges are not, he informed reporters.
FinMin Aurangzeb made these comments in conjunction with the release of the Economic Survey 2023–24, a pre-budget document that includes information on macroeconomic indicators for the previous fiscal year.
Due to difficult circumstances, Pakistan’s economy fell short of most of the goals outlined in the previous budget; however, the agriculture sector saw unparalleled expansion, as reported by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday during the launch of the Pakistan Economic Survey 2023–24.
Speaking first, Finance Minister Aurangzeb discussed inflation. It’s critical to monitor the rate of inflation in 2022–2023. The depreciation of the Pakistani rupee was approximately 29 percent this year, and the foreign reserves were reduced to about two weeks’ worth of import cover.
Aurangzeb pointed out that the current fiscal year had started under the direction of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, had gone through a brief caretaker government, and would now spend the next five years under PM Shehbaz’s elected government.
Aurangzeb stated he had always thought Pakistan would have to use the IMF scheme.
He said that the country had improved as a result of the prime minister’s “courageous step” in agreeing to a nine-month Stand-by Agreement with the IMF.
God forbid, we wouldn’t be here talking about the objectives if it weren’t for it. We would have had the identical conversation in a completely different setting and under a different set of circumstances.
While acknowledging that the impact on large-scale manufacturing will unavoidably occur, Aurangzeb emphasised agriculture as a “saviour” and a major driver of future prosperity.
Additionally, he mentioned that revenue collection had increased by a “unprecedented” roughly 30%.
The minister gave the provinces credit for meeting their surplus obligations, which allowed the government to fulfil its IMF commitment.
The huge decrease in the current account deficit, from an expected $6 billion to about $200 million, was also noted by the finance minister.
According to Aurangzeb, the nation had a current account surplus during the first three months of 2024. “While I don’t have the exact figure, I’m fairly certain that we will have a surplus in another month based on the $3.2 billion in remittances for the month of May.”Thus, my prediction that the current account deficit would be less than $1 billion by the time we enter government came to pass.
