Budget 2024-25: Important takeaways as govt aims for IMF bailout

The federal government on Wednesday released the budget for the fiscal year 2024-24, with a target of 3.6% economic growth as it plans to secure a new bailout deal from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Following are some of the highlights from the 2024/25 budget:

GDP/Deficit

• Targets 3.6% economic growth for 2024/25.
• Fiscal deficit seen at 6.9% of GDP for 2024/25.

Expenditure

• Total spending estimated to be 18.9 trillion Pakistani rupees ($67.84 billion) in 2024/25.
• Expects debt servicing of 9.8 trillion rupees in 2024/25.
• Defence expenditure of 2.1 trillion rupees expected in 2024/25.
• Pension payments seen at 1 trillion rupees in 2024/25.
• Total subsidies projected at 1.4 trillion rupees in 2024/25.
• Projects 27% increase in cash handouts to 600 billion rupees under income support in 2024/25.

Revenue

• Targets total tax revenue of 13 trillion rupees for 2024/25.
• Targets total non-tax revenue of 3.5 trillion rupees in 2024/25.
• Aims to secure 30 billion rupees from privatisation in 2024/25.
• Targets next external receipts of 666 billion rupees in 2024/25 ($1 = 278.6000 Pakistani rupees).