ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the Budget 2015-16 was pro-poor as no burden in wake of taxes has been put over them.
Addressing a post-budget press conference in Islamabad, Dar said all data relating to the budget must be reported responsibly, adding that news pertaining to ending wheat subsidies in Gilgit-Baltistan was incorrect.
He said a section of media misreported the facts and showed irresponsibility while reporting the budget speech.
“It was unfortunate and media should avoid such irresponsible reporting,” he said.
The finance minister said more than Rs 6 billion has been kept for wheat subsidies for Gilgit-Baltistan. Dar went on to make a few more clarifications and said that there had been no increase in the price of sugar.
“Prices of mobile phones have not been increased; in fact they have been reduced,” Dar added.
“Duty on furnace oil and high speed diesel has also not been increased,” the finance minister said. He said “inter-adjustment” of already invoked rates had been announced yesterday during his speech, which had been misconstrued as an “addition”.
While clarifying the tax on mobile phones, the finance minister also said that the Rs 300 raise in tax was only on expensive mobile phones, which were usually used by the rich.
Dar said the tax on expensive mobile phones was Rs 700, which had been proposed as Rs 1,000 in the Budget 2015-16. He added that it is incorrect to say that the tax on mobile phones was doubled in budget as now only sales tax would be charged on the import of phones while the regulatory duty had been abolished.
The minister also said the purchasers of first category of low priced mobile sets would get a concession of Rs 50 as they used to pay Rs350 on their import, including Rs150 sale tax and Rs 200 regulatory duty and now they would have to pay sales tax of only Rs 300.
He said the sales tax on import of second category of mobile phones had been fixed at Rs 500 against total Rs 450 charges, including Rs 250 sales tax and Rs 200 regulatory duty.
Similarly, Rs 700 was charged on third category of mobile phones, including Rs 500 sales tax and Rs 200 regulatory duty, while now the buyers would have to pay sales tax of only Rs 1,000, he added.
While talking about the cement industry, the finance minister stressed the importance of protecting the local industry, adding that duty imposed on cement is only on imports. He labelled the duty on cement imports as “pre-emptive action” to promote the local industry and avoid cement dumping.
The finance minister also said that the government was willing to collaborate with all political parties to develop an economic charter.
Dar further said that the government had announced steps in the budget to create around two million new jobs in the country.
The finance minister also said that government had raised the allocation for Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM) in the budget 100 percent.
He said the PBM’s budget had been doubled from Rs 2 billion to Rs 4 billion in order to provide medical treatment facility and other assistance to a large number of the needy.
The minister said incentives were announced to encourage the construction and 16 allied industries. Sales tax on bricks and crushed stones had been waived for three years which would reduce the construction cost, he added.
“The incentives to be given to the construction and agriculture sectors will help create new jobs,” he hoped.
Dar said the solar tube-well project would help farmers save Rs 1,600 per day using diesel-run tube-wells and Rs 500 per day using petrol-run tube-wells.
The finance minister went on to say that the government decided to start a census in the country from March 2016. He said that the incumbent government had allocated funds for the census in budget.
The federal cabinet on Friday approved the budget for the 2015-16, financial year with a total outlay of Rs 4.313 trillion, which is 9.1 percent higher than the revised 2014-15 outlay of Rs 3.9 trillion.
Addressing the Speaker on Friday, Dar had said that a growth rate target of 5.5 percent had been set for the upcoming year, which he said was budgeted to reach 7 percent by the end of PML-N government’s tenure in 2017-18.