Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Saturday said the budget presented by the federal government was made keeping in mind the coronavirus situation in the country and to help the people during the crisis.
He was addressing the post budget news conference in Islamabad on Saturday along with Information Minister Shibli Faraz and Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar, the adviser.
The Adviser said that the PTI government will cut its own expenditure due to the difficulties faced by the nation amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“The first nine months, we had a lot of success. In 2018, the national debt was Rs30,000 billion and during the first two months, we spent returning the loans we had,” Shaikh said.
“We paid Rs2,700 billion towards debt retirement. This was done despite our total resources for provinces standing at Rs2,000 billion,” he said. He added that the government decreased its expenditure and did not undertake any new borrowing.
“The government also had a series of firsts, such as no borrowing from the State Bank of Pakistan, decreased imports and an increase in foreign investment of nearly 137% in the country,” he added.
The adviser added that the government did not borrow a single penny from SBP, no supplementary grant was given to any department, and current account deficit was reduced from $20 billion to $3 billion.
“But in between this the coronavirus came and affected our economy. We have suffered a loss of Rs700 billion in revenue due to the coronavirus outbreak,” Hafeez said.
He added, “Coronavirus has affected the entire world. It is not an excuse, but it is a reality and thousands have been affected. Even the IMF has said countries would be affected by it; naturally it has taken a toll on our economy as well. ”The estimated loss to the GDP due to the coronavirus is Rs3 trillion, the adviser said.
Speaking about tax collection, Shaikh said if the Federal Bureau of Revenue had continued with its tax collection activities till the end of the year, they would have gathered Rs4,000 to 4,500 billion.
“We now have Rs3,900 billion. No one could have stopped coronavirus and because of that, businesses were shut down and there has been a loss of employment.”
“To deal with the pandemic situation in the country, a Rs1,200 billion package was announced by the government. [A significant chunk] has already been disbursed under the programme to help the needy in the country,” he remarked. “It has reached 10 million Pakistanis. The public saw us distributing cash and giving the aid without any discrimination.”
Moreover, he added, Rs280 billion wheat was brought so that farmers could receive money.
“Government also said it would pay bills of commercial enterprises and small businesses for three months to aid in their recovery. Rs50 billion was given to the agriculture sector to lessen the fertilizer costs.”“More than 6,000 business enterprises took benefit and relief was given to consumers for their electric bills.
