Budget deficit soars by 54% from July-September - report

Pakistan’s budget deficit in the first three months of the fiscal year 2022-23 has alarmingly soared to Rs 808 billion, which is 54% higher than the corresponding months last year, ARY News reported. 

The budget deficit in July-September last year was Rs 438 billion.

According to a report issued by the Ministry of Finance, Pakistan’s budget deficit went by 54% with an alarming deficit of Rs 808 billion. The government’s income from July-September was Rs2,016 billion, and the cumulative expenses of the country were Rs2,835 billion.

A total of Rs234 billion was collected as non-taxed income, while FBR collected a total of Rs1,782, the report added.  A total of Rs953 billion were spent on paying interest on loans taken by the country, it added.

The finance ministry told that a total of Rs312 billion was spent on the defence budget. The country’s GDP’s total volume was Rs78,197 billion. The country took a total of Rs808 billion in loans in the first trimester of the fiscal year 2022-23, the report added.

The government also collected a total of Rs47 billion as the petroluem levy from July-September. Another Rs642 billion were collected as sales tax, and Rs79 billion as federal excise duty, the report added.

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The report added that the federal government gave a total of Rs880 billion to provinces. A total of Rs437 billion were given to Punjab, Rs214 billion to Sindh, Rs145 billion to KP and Rs82 billion to Balochistan.