The government of Pakistan on Friday proposed its financial budget for the next fiscal year with plans to focus on sustainable and inclusive economic growth, with officials calling it a pro-people and balanced budget amid financial challenging times. Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail presented the budget of 9.5 trillion rupees (about 121.5 billion U.S. dollars) for the upcoming fiscal year starting from July 2022 to June 2023 at the lower house of the country parliament. In his speech in the parliament, the minister said the government has to move towards sustainable growth, adding that the growth target for next year was set at 5 percent. The minister said that out of the total 9.5-trillion-rupee budget, an amount of 3.95 trillion rupees has been allocated for debt servicing, whereas 800 billion rupees have been earmarked for the next year public sector development program.A total of 1.523 trillion rupees has been set aside for defense expenditures for the forthcoming financial year, Ismail said.

He said 699 billion rupees have been allocated for targeted subsidies for the benefit of the poor people, and 1.242 trillion rupees have been proposed for grants for various programs focusing on vulnerable sections of the society. Ismail said the revenue of the country Federal Board of Revenue has been estimated at 7 trillion rupees for the next fiscal year and the non-tax revenue will be 2 trillion rupees. Shortly after the budget was presented, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the budget balanced, progressive and pro-people. Making a budget in financially challenging times with so many constraints is no less than a herculean task ... Through this budget, my government will steer our way out of these challenges by taking tough decisions while minimizing the impact on vulnerable segments of the population, the prime minister said. (1 U.S. dollar equals 78.18 rupees)