ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday said that the notion that the budget 2015-16 has nothing for the poor is just a political statement.
Addressing post-budget press conference here, Dar claimed that 30,000 solar tube wells, packages for widows too are government steps to support poor people.
Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), Baitulmal, Prime Minister’s Youth Loan Scheme, Income Tax relief are steps that show that budget is not only for rich.
He further said that the burden has been lifted from the middle class and salaried people and the daily consumer items’ prices have been kept nearly constant.
“Minimum wages have been increased up to Rs13000, regulatory duty on mobile phones has not been increased.” Dar added. “Ad-hoc allowance has been merged to increase salaries by 7.5%.”
He rejected reports about withdrawal of the subsidy on wheat for Gilgit-Baltistan, terming the allegation’baseless’.
Dar said that after finishing his speech in Senate, he was informed about reports about withdrawal subsidy on wheat for Gilgit-Baltistan. He said that a private TV channel had reported that subsidy on wheat for Gilgit-Baltistan has been withdrawn.
Answering a question, he maintained that the special package given to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province is due to the situation of the poor in war torn province adding that aggressive’ parliamentarians of KP have also welcomed packages announced for their province.
Dar said that only expensive cellphones are burdened with tax as a guy buying a 70,000 rupees cellphone can give 300 rupees to the government.
The finance minister also said that the government was willing to collaborate with all political parties to develop an economic charter.
The federal cabinet on Friday approved the budget for the 2015-16 financial year with a total outlay of Rs4.313 trillion, which is 9.1 per cent higher than the revised 2014-15 outlay of Rs3.9tr.
