The total outlay for the budget 2021-22 is Rs8,487 billion, which almost 19 per cent higher than last year's outlay of Rs7,136 billion. The GDP growth target has been set at 4.8 per cent.
As the finance minister praised Prime Minister Imran Khan's vision for the economy, he was greeted by taunting opposition lawmakers who laughed loudly in a bid to dismiss his claims about the government's achievements.
Shaukat Tarin announced that Rs480bn had been reserved for pensions payments of both civilians and retired military officers.
Rs1,370bn has been allocated to the defence sector, while the government has reserved Rs1,168 for development and non-development grants for provinces.
Further, Rs682bn has been reserved for subsidies to various sectors of the economy. Rs479bn has been kept to run the civil government. To deal with the fallout of the Covid pandemic, the government has reserved Rs 100bn, the finance minister said.
He further announced that the federal PSDP had been allocated Rs964 billion.
Tarin also criticised the previous governments, saying that the PTI government inherited a massive circular debt amounting to Rs1 trillion because of the flawed policies of its predecessors.
The finance minister added that PM Imran Khan's government is not afraid to take difficult decision. He said that the PTI government managed to turn around the current account deficit into a surplus in 2021.