Islamabad:
The Minister of Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb warned on Wednesday that the government could be forced to impose up to 500 billion rupees for an additional value of new taxes if the National Assembly did not allow him to prohibit economic transactions by non -eligible persons.
The Minister also made a paradoxical comment where he defended the decision to maintain the minimum monthly salary unchanged to RS37,000, but recommended an annual increase in parliamentarians to adapt to the impact of inflation.
The warning concerning a mini-budget before the approval of the new budget came a day after the Minister of Finance proposed around 432 billion rupees of new taxes, which targeted the digital economy, solar panels, cars and the fuel of the intermediary, including that used in agriculture.
He made these remarks at a post-budget press conference where he extended the federal budget proposed for the new fiscal year.
If the law of prohibiting economic transactions is not adopted and the implementing measures are not implemented, we will have to impose 400 billion rupees on 500 billion rupes of new taxes, repeated by the Minister of Finance twice to record its point.
“We have two ways-either we guarantee the application, or we introduce additional measures up to 400 billion rupees at 500 billion rupees. This is why we will go to Parliament to help ourselves with the changes and authorization legislation,” he added.
He said the International Monetary Fund had accepted the government’s point of view that it can obtain an additional 389 billion rupees during the next financial year through application measures, which is not possible without new legislation.
Transactions to be prohibited
In the budget, the government has proposed restrictions on economic transactions by non -eligible persons without sufficient financial resources. These restrictions include: a ban on booking, buying or saving motor vehicles; the prohibition of registration, registration or certificate of the transfer of real estate; The prohibition to sell titles – including debt securities or common fundraising units – to ineligible people; And a ban on opening or maintaining current portfolio, savings or investors’ securities accounts.
Only people holding 130% of cash value and equivalent assets – including local or foreign currencies, a fair market value of gold, a feasible net value of shares, bonds, claims or any other equivalent asset in cash – will be eligible to buy these assets.
RS37,000 wages minimum appropriate
In a surprising statement, the Minister of Finance defended the decision to freeze the minimum wage at Rs37,000 per month – or RS1 423 per day, excluding vacation.
“Go to the industries and get their comments on the minimum wage. I think we are in the right place,” said Aurangzeb.
However, he also defended the substantial increase in the wages of the President of the Senate and Vice-President, and of the President of the National Assembly and Vice-President, raised six times to Rs1.3 million per month.
He said their wages were adjusted after nine years. As the annual increase in government employees wages, parliamentarians should also increase, he recommended.
Media protests for his rights
At the start of the press conference, journalists expressed concerns not to have received a technical briefing from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on the 2025 financial bill on Tuesday. They went out to protest and only returned after the Minister of Information Attaullah Tarar and the president of FBR, Rashid Langrial, recognized that such a briefing should have been given in accordance with tradition.
The Minister of Finance, Aurangzeb, later recognized “the concern” caused to journalists and said that he “regretted if there was something like”.
Cash disparity on delivery
The government’s decision to invoice a 2% tax on online purchases until RS20,000 – while billing only 0.25% for purchases exceeding this amount – is likely to encourage cash delivery more for high value transactions.
Dr. Najeeb, a policy of FBR members, explained that although the value of goods in these transactions is high, the beneficiary margins are low, hence the lower tax proposed rate of 0.25%.
Under the proposed prices, the tax on an RS20,000 transaction will amount to Rs400, but for Rs21,000, it will go to Rs52.
Dr. Najeeb noted that grocery articles have lower margins but are taxed at higher rates than electrical products. “We have not followed the previous policies where everyone suffered in the same category,” he added.
Pakistan moment in East Asia
The Minister of Finance, Aurangzeb, said that the reduction in import rights would move Pakistan to an economy led by exports. He stressed the importance of tariff reforms within the framework of national pricing policy.
“People ask us if income will decrease. But if we want to advance this country to a model led by export, this is the discussion we must have,” he said.
The Minister noted that additional customs tasks have been eliminated from four pricing lines and reduced for 2,700 others, all linked to raw materials intended to benefit from exporters.
“This is a moment in East Asia for Pakistan. Everything that was available in the budgetary space reflects the direction of the trip. We have tried to reduce the prices. This is not the final state,” he noted.
On the increase in the tax rate for the sale of plots, Aurangzeb said that the side of the sale still receives capital gains, but that the side of purchase should receive a certain relief.
The finance secretary, Imdad Ullah Bosal, said that there was no more tax space to reduce spending, and the savings in the government reduction of the government were limited to the abolition of vacant positions.
Responding to a question on the issuance of statistics from the population of the National Finance Commission (NFC), Aurangzeb insisted: “Everything will be done in consultation with the provinces”.
Earlier this week, the Minister of Finance said that the population should be delimited by the NFC formula to treat annual population growth of 2.6%.
“Nothing will be done without the provinces, including the national tax pact,” he added.
To a question on the impact of the reduction in the surcharge of the income tax of 1%, which always leaves it at 9%, on the brain flight, Aurangzeb declared that the government had established a rare direction, that indicating that “everything that increases is, in a year, descending”.
“Things that had never been reversed before have now been put in return-but it is not the end state,” he said.
He said the government is trying to send a message to the sectors faced with an undue burden, in particular the formal sector, that it is “serious”. “It’s just the signaling from my point of view, in the right direction,” he said.
When they were asked to justify the taxation of an 18% sales tax on imported solar panels, the president of the FBR, Rashid Langrial, explained that panels were fully or partially assembled.
Those who adding local value was already taxed at 18%, while fully assembled imports were not, which put local assemblers in a disadvantage.
“We also closed the door for the future local assembly, so it was not an option. We must create a level playground,” said Langrial, saying that the incentives were no longer necessary, given the drop in the cost of technology.
He estimated that the 18% tax on solar panel imports would increase the recovery period by only two months, from 18 to 20 months.
Eurobond reimbursements
On bond reimbursements, the Minister of Finance said that the first episode of $ 500 million euros was due in September, followed by the next in March. “We are ready and ready to pay,” he said.
“With the improvement of the international credit rating, we want to access the Euro and US dollar markets, which is planned in 2026, but certainly not this calendar year,” added to therangzeb.
