Govt increases salaries of govt employees by 35%, pensions by 17.5%

ISLAMABAD (92 News) - The federal government on Friday increased the salaries of the government employees by 35 percent in the budget for the fiscal year 2023-24.

Presenting the budget in the National Assembly, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that an adhoc relief of 35% had been announced in the salaries of government employees up to BS 16. "The salaries of the employees up to BS 22 have been increased by 30%," he announced.

He said that pensions have been increased by 17.5%. "Minimum pension of the government employees has been increased from Rs10,000 to Rs12,000. The EOBI pension has been raised to Rs10,000 from Rs8,500," he added.

He said that minimum wages had been fixed at Rs32,0000.

No new tax will imposed on industries

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that no new tax would be imposed on industries for their development. "The agriculture loans limit has been increased to Rs2200.5 billion from Rs1,800 billion. An amount of Rs30 billion has been allocated for shifting agriculture tube-wells to solar energy. A subsidy of Rs10 billion will be given to Prime Minister's Youth, business and agriculture loans. A subsidy of Rs6 billion will be given on the import of Urea," he added.

He announced that a waiver of up to US$24,000 will be given to IT freelancer on exports annually. "In Islamabad, sales tax on IT has been reduced to five percent from 15%," he added.

Prices of edible oil, solar panels, battery & invertors to be reduced

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced that the prices of edible oil, solar panels, battery, inventors and different types of machinery will be reduced. "The government has decided not to increase the import duty on all essential items," he announced.

Key points

• Sales tax on cooking and edible oil abolished
• Custom duty on paper for publication of the Holy Quran abolished
• Custom duty on diapers, thinner, polyester and raw material of textile waived
• Decision made to increase facilities and easiness in business
• Tax waiver for import on machinery for tribal districts extended
• Decision made to end duty on import of machinery for minerals
• Rs1 billion allocated for health insurance of working journalists
• Exemption of customs duties on import of seeds for sowing to promote growth in the agricultural sector
• Withdrawal of capping of the fixed duties and taxes on the import of old and used vehicles of Asian Makes above 1300CC
• Services provided by restaurants including cafes, food (including ice cream), parlours, coffee houses, coffee shops, deras, food huts, eateries, resorts and similar cooked, prepared or ready-to-eat food service outlets etc are proposed to be taxed at 5pc if payment is made through debit or credit cards, mobile wallets or QR scanning
• Increase in withholding tax rate from 1pc to 5pc on payment to non-residents through debit/credit or prepaid cards
• Exemption of customs duties on import of shrimps/prawns/juvenile for breeding in commercial fish farms and hatcheries