Aga khan university, Higher educational institution in Karachi, Pakistan

The Pakistan Ministry of Finance released details of fiscal operations on Tuesday which show the frightening situation that the Pakistan economy is in.The first year of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government has concluded with a record 8.9 per cent fiscal deficit perhaps the highest in the country's history as revenues plummeted while expenditures remained at the same level they were the previous year, when expressed as a percentage of GDP. In absolute terms, however, expenditures broke previous records while revenues were stagnant, Dawn News reported.All major fiscal indicators showed deterioration over the outgoing fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2019. The numbers show that whatever efforts were made to control a blow-out on expenditures ended in grief, even though sharp revenue shortfalls had begun to surface much earlier in the first three quarters of the year. Much of the increase in the deficit came in the last quarter, it seems."I have never seen such a high fiscal deficit in my career," said Ashfaque Hassan Khan, the former economic adviser and now dean of the business school at National University of Science and Technology (NUST), adding that the Ministry of Finance never focused on expenditure control while revenues were heading to historic shortfalls.The deficit jumped despite a steep 45 per cent lower development spending during fiscal year 2018-19 when compared to a year before. This was evident from the fact that total Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) spending during 2018-19 was curtailed at Rs 1.008 billion compared to Rs 1.456 billion in 2017-18.The data given by the Finance Ministry reveals that the overall tax to GDP ratio flattened out to 12.7 per cent in 2018-19 compared to 15.2 per cent in the last year of the PML-N government in 2017-18. In a rare phenomenon the total revenues fell by 6.3 per cent in absolute terms. This meant that the government's tax machinery showed negative performance both in terms of absolute numbers and as percentage of GDP.Tax revenues remained unchanged and did not show any improvement in absolute terms but fell to 11.6 per cent of GDP in 2018-19 when compared to 13 per cent in 2017-18. Both federal and provincial taxes remained unchanged in absolute terms.Total expenditure on the other hand amounted to 21.6 per cent of GDP in 2018-19, slightly lower than 21.8 per cent of GDP in 2017-18. In absolute numbers, the current expenditure amounted to a mammoth Rs 8.345 trillion compared to Rs 7.488 trillion of the previous year.( With inputs from IANS )

Aga Khan UniversityFOLLOW

Aga khan university, Latest News

Former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi on Wednesday said that he will soon visit the Line of Control (LoC) to "express solidarity with our Kashmiri brethren" following India's decision to end the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate t ...

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok next week, Russia on Wednesday expressed concerns over the escalated tensions between two nuclear power--India and Pakistan. ...

Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday said that BJP must not fall into a trap laid by Pakistan where it has mischievously used Rahul Gandhi's name to rake up its Kashmir agenda in United Nations. ...

In a tacit deterrence to Pakistan against any misadventure or war, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu while speaking at an event here on Wednesday said that India will not attack anybody but if someone attacks India, it will give a fitting reply that they ...

A Jammu and Kashmir Police officer on Wednesday targeted the Urdu service of a foreign broadcaster saying exaggerated stories it put out on Kashmir were widely shared on social media, motivating young Pakistanis to take to terrorism. ...

Soon after Rahul Gandhi hit out at Pakistan for instigating violence in Jammu and Kashmir and asserted that all matters related to the region are India's internal issues, Union Minister Giriraj Singh slammed the Congress leader and said that his stat ...

Reiterating that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan, Russia on Wednesday said that it has "no role" to play in the matter unless both south Asian nations asked for the mediation. ...

Pakistan's economy is plunging into a deep crisis, even as its Prime Minister and all other leaders are preoccupied with issuing threats of war and jihad against India after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. ...