Budget of 2014-15

The budget of 2014-15 had a total outlay of 4,302 billion Rupees almost 8 percent more than that of the previous budget.  GDP growth rate increased from below 4 to 4.1 percent which is a substantial achievement of the current government but GDP missed its target of 4.4 percent which is a worrying sign. The rate of inflation decreased significantly from double-figure to 6.8 percent. Exports increased from the previous year by 4.24 percent. The minimum wage of workers was increased from R.s 10,000 to a formidable R.s 11,000 but still, it is not up to the level of inflation the common person experiences.

Government employees were given 10 percent ad-hoc relief in their salaries, which again doesn’t complement the inflation at all. Per capita income was increased to 1386 (dollars) per annum. 17% sales Tax was imposed on CNG. Agriculture sector grew at the rate of 3 percent and industrial sector grew at 5.84 percent in the last fiscal year. The value of Rupee increased up to 11 percent from previous year bringing it down below 100 compared to the dollar.  Foreign exchange reserves increased to 15 Billion dollars which are a positive indicator. 6 billion dollars have been allocated for the Prime minister housing scheme.

Funds allocation for the Benazir income support programs was raised from 75 billion Rupees to 118 billion Rupees, increasing the monthly income support amount for a family from 1,000 to 15,000. This is a major step towards expanding the social support program and bringing more poor families under the social safety net. Budget allocation for defense has been proposed to be 700 billion Rupees for the coming year. The federal development budget is proposed to be 525 billion Rupees. 25 billion dollars have been allocated for the Diamer Bhasha dam with 10 billion Rupees for the acquisition of land and 15 billion Rupees for the construction and development of dam. The federal deficit will be projected to be 1,711 billion dollars for the coming fiscal years.

Federal Board of Revenue estimated tax collection at 2.180 trillion Rupees. The fiscal deficit is expected to be below 5 percent in the coming year, 4.9 percent to be exact. Foreign loans are estimated to be 869 billion Rupees in the upcoming fiscal year. Funds allocated for the public sector development program for the upcoming year will stand at 525 billion Rupees. One of the major steps on the part of the government was the fund's allocation for investment in energy sector. An amount of 205 billion Rupees in the budget have been proposed to be allocated to the power sector in order to overcome the current energy crisis in the country.

Overall the budget statistics show that the economy is moving in a right direction. The Gross Domestic Product is a major indicator of this but still, the government needs to do a lot more in order to cope with the current economic crisis. One major sector of this crisis is energy which needs to be addressed at the priority level because it is damaging the economy on the whole.