The Minister of Finance, Muhammad Aurangzeb, said on Monday that there was no proposal in the budget to increase the salaries of the armed forces that civil government employees and assured that the country’s defense needs would be fully met. In a media interaction after attending a seminar, the Minister of Finance also said that India had left no stone not returned to derail the packet of $ 7 billion in Pakistan but that he could not succeed. "So far there is no proposal of this type" To increase defense wages more than that of civilian employees, the Minister of Finance said, answering a question. The declaration erases the air after rumors swirl suggesting that the government was considering a significant increase in the wages of the armed forces. The government plans to increase wages of around 6% to 10% due to the low rate of inflation to a figure. While answering another question, Aurangzeb said that regardless of the support that the government could provide to meet the defense needs would be fully provided. "It is a question of meeting the needs of the country, not only to meet the needs of the armed forces of Pakistan," He added. The Minister of Finance also spoke of malicious Indian designs to stifle the external funding of Pakistan.
"There is immense support from the IMF despite the kind of effort [India made] To derail the IMF program," He said and added that there had been gaps in implementing the program, there would have been problems. The case of Pakistan was discussed and approved to merit, because it has encountered all quantitative and structural references, he said. "These are very tense moments. The whole nation rightly celebrated how our armed forces and our political leaders have opposed the assault," He continued.
"There was no longer any non -returned stone in terms of guaranteeing that the meeting with the IMF does not occur and if the meeting occurs, these articles are not on the agenda, whether it is the second tranche under extended funds or $ 1.3 billion under resilience and sustainability (RSF)," The minister said.
"However, we are beyond that, and our case was discussed and decided to merit."
Addressing an event, organized by Karandaaz Pakistan and Pakistan Banks Association (PBA) in Islamabad, Aurangzeb said that the federal government was preparing to introduce "daring" In the upcoming budget by focusing on strategic orientation. "We will bring daring measures during the budget for the financial year 2025-26," He said. He said that rather than operating mathematics, the government intended to make the budgetary document more strategic. The federal budget for the year 2025-26 will be presented on June 10, 2025 and the economic survey will be launched a day earlier. For another question on the delay in the IMF finish discussions, the Minister of Finance said that the TMI talks would continue virtually next week, but that the main discussions had already taken place. He said that the government had also reached macroeconomic stability in the past but "We have wasted" The opportunity. "Because it is easy to enter a rush towards sugar, that is to say the liquidity of the pump on the market, opt for consumption growth," What triggered the balance of payment problems and the FX, he said. To break with the boom and bust cycle, Aurangzeb said that Pakistan should stay the course in terms of structural reforms. He stressed that the government has remained determined to simplify the process of filing income declarations for the salaried class. He added that 70 to 80% of the salaried class does not necessarily have equity or income portfolios and they should not be required to fill 150 columns. "We try to bring it back to nine articles, five on wealth and four on the side of income tax." The Minister added that the government wanted to implement a simplified process at the end of September. The Minister of Finance admitted that the government could not perform well on the reform of public enterprises in the past year, but hoped that the agenda would be accelerated during the new year. He said that the PIA transaction was launched again and expressed its optimism about its completion. Regarding the debt service, Aurangzeb said that in the current financial year, the cost of the public debt service had decreased by RS1 million, but said it was not a success, because the reduction was due to the reduction of interest rates. "Next year, we will restructure and reorganize the debt management office in modern lines," He said. Aurangzeb qualified the country’s economy crossing the $ 400 billion in satisfaction. "Our economy has crossed the level of $ 400 billion. It shows that we move in the right direction"he added. But it argued that to become an economy of 3 dollars by 2047, Pakistan had to meet the challenges of the 2.6% population growth rate and climate change.
