Finance Minister Ishaq Dar Friday tabled the federal budget for the fiscal year 2023-24, which aims to kill to bird with one stone — wooing the International Monetary Fund (IMF)and providing relief to a population heavily burdened by increasing inflation.
The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government, in the latest Budget Strategy Paper, has issued growth targets for the upcoming fiscal year.
These macroeconomic and fiscal indicators include:
GDP: Rs108.5 trillion
Inflation: 21%
Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) taxes: 8.7% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Overall deficit: -6.5% GDP
Overall primary balance: 0.4% GDP
Public debt: 66.5% of GDP
Current account deficit: $6 billion
FinMin Dar — who took charge of the finance ministry in September last year — noted that despite the economic challenges confronting Pakistan, the coalition parties still came into power.
"We took and are still taking tough decisions which rescued the economy from default," he said while presenting the budget.
He further added that although the nation had suffered massive losses of $30 billion due to unprecedented floods, the government is bidding to resume the IMF programme and take the country on the road of development.
"We have completed all the prerequisites of the ninth IMF review [...] we are hoping to reach an agreement with the IMF," the minister told the members of the lower house.