ISLAMABAD: Finance minister Shaukat Tarin today (Saturday) asserted that the federal budget 2021-21 focuses on the uplift of the poor and sustainable economic growth through incentives for various sectors including agriculture, industry and housing.
He expressed his views while addressing a post-budget press conference in Islamabad alongside Minister for Industries Khusro Bakhtiar, Adviser to Prime Minister Razak Dawood, PM’s Special Assistant Sania Nishtar.
“For the first time we have given an overall growth-oriented budget,” the minister said, pointing to innovation in revenue collection, incentives are given to exporters, and exemption of duties on local industry.
Tarin further said the main emphasis of the budget is to protect the vulnerable segments of society. “God has given us the ability in this budget to become a means for the poor so they understand that this government will not wait for trickle-down effect,” he added.
“Four million households will be accessed through the Ehsaas Survey and they will be provided with interest-free business and farming loans,” Tarin said, adding that such households will also be provided with health cards, with technical training imparted to one member of the household.
Tarin further pointed out that incentives were given to uplift the agriculture and industries sectors to increase employability, clarifying that incentives to industries are not textile specific, but have also been extended to other sectors.
Tarin added that taxes have been abolished to facilitate the investment in the Special Economic Zones being set up under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
Talking about the IT sector, he said taxes have been rationalised in order to exploit the full potential of the sector and added that the government wants to substantially enhance the sector’s exports in the coming year.
Tarin also expressed confidence that the price of motor vehicles up to 850cc horsepower will reduce following the tax relief given to the segment and said the incentives given to the SMEs will also help achieve higher growth in the industry.
Talking in regards to the power sector, the finance minister said that subsidies have been increased and efficiency will be brought to the sector. “DISCOs will be operated through independent boards and will be privatized,” he announced.
Expressing confidence at the revenue target set by the government, Tarin maintained that the tax to GDP ratio has to be enhanced to 20pc in a period of seven to eight years. He said the focus is to expand the tax net instead of imposing additional taxes on the masses.
