Federal Budget 2021-22 Will Be Presented Today

(@fidahassanain)

Federal Budget 2021-22 will be presented today

The Federal Cabinet will meet in  Islamabad today, with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair to discuss and approve the federal budget proposals.

ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-June 11th, 2021) Federal Budget 2021-22 will be presented in the National Assembly today (Friday).

The Federal cabinet will meet in Islamabad today, with Prime Mininster Imran Khan in the chair to discuss and approve the federal budget proposals.

The public is expecting relief from the today’s budget as inflation has badly affected the citizens. Fruits, vegetables and items of daily used have gone out of the purchasing power of a common man. Chicken prices have touched the sky.

On Thursday, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin has presented the Economic Survey for 2020-21 today.

The Economic Survey for 2020-21 has highlighted the salient features of economic performance in the outgoing fiscal year. According to the reports, the Survey shed light on the total debt and liabilities that touched the highest figure of Rs 45 trillion by the end of March 2021 as compared to the last year figures of Rs 44.6 trillion.

The growth rate was 2 per cent in nine month—the lowest ever growth of TDL in a single year in 15 years and total debt of the government grew by 1.5 per cent during this period.

The total debt, however, decreased by almost 8 per cent in one year. According to the reports, the multilateral and bilateral sources besides the external resources played important role in this regard. Total debt and liabilities remained at 95.3 per cent of the GDP at the end of third quarter of 2020-21 as compared to last year GDP of 103 per cent.

The debt to DGP ratio improved mainly because of increase in nominal growth as inflation remained on higher side, so the nominal size of growth also jacked up. Besides it, the exchange rate appreciated, so it also helped the government to show improvement in debt to GDP ratio.

The unfortunate aspect is that the government did not use population census figures of 2017 approved by the Council of Common Interests, provisional GDP growth rate of 3.94 per cent and per capita income at $1, 543 in outgoing fiscal year. According to the officials, the population census required spadework from the National Institute of Policy Studies (NIPS). When this will be done, then whole series of per capita income will be adjusted accordingly.

Fida Hussnain

Fida Hussnain is a lahore based journalist. He writes on politics, religion, social issues and climate change. He is also a research fellow at University of Gujrat.