- Finance minister says govt taking effective steps to cut line losses, making efforts to add 11,000MWs in national grid within three to four years
- NA approves Finance Bill 2014-15 with a total outlay of Rs 4.3 trillion, accepts some amendments moved by govt and rejects all those moved by Opp
Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar on Saturday said that load shedding would come to an end within three to four years with the addition of 11,000 megawatts (MW) in the national grid.
In response to a question raised by the opposition regarding the budget in the National Assembly, he said the country is currently enduring its “peak power shortfall” of 4,500 MW. The government had taken effective steps to reduce line losses from 16 per cent to a respectable level, he added. He said that a massive campaign has been launched to reduce gas and power theft.
Refuting the allegations that the Nandipur power generation project had stopped generating power, the minister said the 100 MW power plant is functional.
Dar said that provinces would be given Rs 300 million more from federal divisible pool during the next financial year. Provinces were getting Rs 200 billion more in the current year than the previous year, he added.
He said a transparent procedure has been adopted for new appointments in government departments and nepotism had been made impossible.
Rejecting allegations against the laptop scheme, he said the country’s youth had been connected to the world’s leading libraries through 3G and 4G technology,
The minister said that a sum of Rs 118 billion had been allocated for the underprivileged under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), adding that 5.3 million families were benefiting from the scheme as compared to 4.1 million families during the era of Pakistan People’s Party.
Crude oil production had been increased from 72,000 barrels to over 100,000 barrels within a period of one year, he added.
Dar said that government had paid a subsidy of Rs 21 billion to keep oil prices at a minimum level. The minister said that work on the Metro Bus Service Project had been initiated with approval of Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC).
He said that the country’s foreign currency reserves had reached to $14.2 billion, adding that the depreciation of dollar’s value directly resulted in reduction of Pakistan’s borrowing by Rs 700 billion.
NA approves Finance Bill 2014-15
Furthermore, the National Assembly approved the Finance Bill for the fiscal year 2014-15 with a total outlay of Rs 4.3 trillion, accepting some amendments moved by the government and rejecting all those moved from the opposition benches.
Following nine-day discussion, the 149-page Finance Bill was moved by Finance Minister Dar that was passed by the House with a majority in clause-by-clause reading.
The passage of the bill has brought to an end the budgetary process started on June 3 with the budget speech of the finance minister in the National Assembly. The bill now will go to the president for assent, and will be applicable from July 1.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was also present during the budget’s passage.
The Senate had made 133 recommendations, out of which the government accepted 57 and which were incorporated in the federal budget.
Once signed into law, the bill will increase monthly stipend from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 billion for those receiving income support, and the number of families for the Benazir Income Support programme will be increased from 4.1million to 5.3mn.
Crop insurance will be increased to 25 acres and prices of fertilisers will be reduced by Rs 300 per bag.
The government will also impose uniformed income tax of 4 per cent on first class air travel and reduce sales tax on solvent extractors from 17 to 16 per cent. It will also withdraw exemptions of Rs 103 billion under its endeavor for phased-elimination of SROs.
The Finance Bill also provides a special package of Rs 36 billion for all provinces – Balochistan will get Rs 14 billion, Sindh will get Rs 8 billion, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will get Rs 4 billion, FATA will get Rs 4 billion, AJK will get Rs 3 billion while Gilgit-Baltistan will receive Rs 2 billion as part of the package. As part of the budgetary approval, the House has also approved demands for grants worth Rs 2.6trillion besides charged expenditures.
Following the passage of the budget, the finance minister congratulated the National Assembly and the Senate.
