Budget 2021-22 session begins at National Assembly

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 05 Jan 2023

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly session for the presentation of budget 2021-22 has begun on Thursday with Prime Minister Imran Khan in attendance.

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin is presenting the budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 having a total outlay of Rs8487 million amid ruckus from the opposition.

The federal cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan earlier in the day approved the Budget for 2021-22, giving a nod to a 10 percent increase in salaries and pensions of the government employees.

Development budget increased by 36.6%

With an increase of 36.4%, the federal government has proposed Rs900 billion for the development budget for the fiscal year 2021-22.

According to the budget 2021-22 document, the annual development budget for Punjab has been fixed at Rs500 billion for the upcoming fiscal year 2021-22 after an increase of Rs190 billion.

The current fiscal year’s development budget is Rs310 billion. For Sindh, the development budget has been fixed at Rs321 billion for FY22 as compared to the current year’s Rs194 billion. The provincial budget for uplift schemes has been increased by Rs127 billion.

With an increase of Rs44 billion, the federal government has fixed Rs133 billion for Balochistan’s development. The development budget of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has been decreased by Rs26 billion and has been fixed at Rs248 billion as compared to the current year’s budget for uplift schemes of Rs274 billion.

GDP growth rate set at 4.8%

The federal government has projected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate at 4.8% for the upcoming fiscal year 2021-22.

According to the budget document available with ARY News, the agriculture sector growth rate has been set at 5 per cent and for important crops, the growth rate has been forecast at 2.2%.

The growth rate for cotton has been proposed at 10% of the overall GDP projected by the federal government for the upcoming FY22, read the budget document.

For the industrial sector, the growth rate has been set at 6.5 per cent and 6.2% has been estimated for the manufacturing sector.

Growth target for the large manufacturing sector has been proposed at six per cent, while for the construction sector it has been projected at 8.3 per cent.