New Budget fulfills the expectations of the IMF
ISLAMABAD: Former PML-N finance minister Miftah Ismail the 2023-24 budget is in line with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) demands. He said that the budget is not very expansionary.
Miftah Ismail stated this in a budget transmission of a TV channel. Miftah said the IMF demanded a primary surplus of 0.5%. In the new budget, the government has set this target at 0.4%.
He said, “We can say that the budget is in line with the IMF’s expectation”.
Miftah Ismail has emerged as a hard critic of the PML-N’s economic policies especially of Ishaq Dar, who boasted to bring the dollar-rupee rate to below 200 rupees, from 235 at that time.
However, things moved in the other direction and the exchange rate has expanded to around 300 rupees.
Miftah said, “The IMF focuses on two things — primary deficit and primary surplus — and we are close to it as there’s only a difference of Rs125 billion.”
The defense budget increased to Rs 1804 billion
ISLAMABAD: The federal government has increased the defense budget by Rs 281 billion in the new budget for the year 2023-24.
The total defense budget proposed in the new budget is Rs 1804 billion, up by Rs 281 billion when compared with the current fiscal year budget.
In the US dollar, the increase is almost equal to one billion dollars if we keep in view the existing interbank exchange rate. In the previous budget, the government allocated Rs 1.52 trillion for defense.
Record high inflation and massive rupee depreciation influenced the government to raise the defense budget.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
