Relief can be provided according to financial capacity: FinMin's post-budget presser

Islamabad: Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb is holding a post-budget press conference on Wednesday.

While holding a post-budget press conference in Islamabad, the Finance Minister said that the effort was to provide as much relief as possible to the salaried class. Pensions and salaries have to be linked to inflation. The reality is that relief can only be given according to financial capacity. Due to the deficit, they are doing everything on credit.

The Finance Minister said that when it comes to salary or pension, there should be a benchmark. The benchmark of increase along with inflation is kept all over the world. The inflation rate is still 7.5 percent. It is our responsibility to reduce federal spending.

When asked by journalists about the huge increase in the salaries of ministers and parliamentarians, the Finance Minister said that they should definitely see when the salaries of ministers and parliamentarians were adjusted. The salaries of cabinet ministers were increased in 2016. If the salaries continued to increase every year, there would be no need for a sudden rise.

Muhammad Aurangzeb stated that tariff reforms have been made in the budget. There are a total of 7,000 tariff lines, out of which 4,000 have been reduced to zero. Tariff reforms will increase the country's exports.

The Finance Minister said that this year we collected more than Rs400 billion in taxes through enforcement. There are only two ways: either enforcement or tax. We will talk to both houses to make legislation in this regard.

He added that the board discussed not imposing additional taxes on the agricultural sector, and loans will be given to small farmers.

Earlier, when Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb arrived in Islamabad for a post-budget press conference, he was accompanied by the Finance Secretary and the Chairman of the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR). However, journalists boycotted the press conference after not receiving a technical briefing on the budget.

Journalists said that for 20 years, a technical briefing has been given to journalists after the budget, but this time the government has gone against the trend.

Later, the Finance Minister sent the relevant officials with the task of persuading the journalists.