The stock market ended its seven-session losing streak on Wednesday before the budget announcement, buoyed by optimism about the government’s privatisation plan and debt rollover talks with China. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said equities showed recovery after Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb affirmed at the Economic Survey 2023-24 presser that state-owned enterprises’ privatisat
Pakistan has planned to borrow a minimum of $23 billion in the next fiscal year, including the rollover of a bilateral debt of $12 billion, to finance its swelling development plan and meet the nation’s external financing requirement. Budget documents for fiscal year 2024-25 showed that Pakistan would borrow at least $23.2 billion, or Rs5.9 trillion, which did not include any loan from the Inte
The federal government increased the tax rate for both salaried and non-salaried taxpayers in the federal budget for the next financial year, placing a cumulative burden of Rs75 billion on the salaried person, Rs150 billion on the non-salaried individuals. The budget proposed a maximum tax rate of 35% for the salaried persons, and 45% for non-salaried individuals. The minimum threshold of Rs50,
The federal government proposed around 18% increase in the defence budget as the country continued to face internal and external security challenges, the budget document showed on Wednesday. The defence budget outlay for 2024-25 is Rs2,128 billion – less than 12% of the total budget – compared to Rs1, 809 earmarked for the outgoing fiscal year 2023-24. However, the revised defence spending in t
The government on Wednesday proposed imposing a record Rs1.5 trillion in additional taxes to achieve an ambitious Rs13 trillion target for the new fiscal year, which is expected to unleash an inflationary storm in Pakistan due to heavy indirect taxation and further reductions in individual incomes. In an unprecedented move, despite heavy taxation, there remains an Rs800 billion gap between the me