KARACHI: The government borrowed Rs3.2 trillion from scheduled banks from May 15 to June 28 of the fiscal year 2023-24, despite a 30 per cent growth in revenue generation. The latest State Bank data shows that the government borrowed Rs71.8bn per day during the period, reflecting the government’s massive spending of the government.
According to media reports, in the budget for FY25, the government has resorted to heavy taxation in order to generate 40 per cent more revenue than what it did the previous fiscal year. Although the government has been hinting at imposing more taxes to increase revenue, there seems to be little effort to curb spending in order to avoid borrowing.
Government borrowing from scheduled banks reached a record high of Rs8.564tr during FY24, more than twice the Rs3.716tr it borrowed during FY23. The borrowing for the last 45 days of FY24 — Rs3.2tr — was incidentally close to the entire borrowing in FY23. These borrowings come at a staggering cost since the interest rate is as high as 22pc.
The data shows that the government borrowed Rs6.55tr for domestic debt servicing during the year. The government has been exhorting the nation to be ready for more sacrifices in the wake of ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but has shown reluctance to stop its lavish spending.
The economy is under severe pressure since fixed investments have gone down to a 50-year low. The government slashes the development programme every year while the private sector’s borrowings from banks were negligible due to a whopping 22 per cent interest rate.
All these factors combined to restrict the growth rate to a miserable 2.38pc.
The government has set a 3.5pc growth target for FY25, but a ballooning debt servicing liability, a high interest rate despite low inflation and a slump in economic activities by the private sector is unlikely to allow economic managers to reach the target.
The government raised Rs442 billion against the target of Rs150bn through the auction of treasury bills on Wednesday. The cut-off yields on the papers were reduced by 10 basis points for three months to 20.04 per cent and 18 basis points to 19.78pc for six-month T-bills. The rate on 12-month papers was kept unchanged at 18.54pc.
The government raised Rs74.6bn for three-month, Rs158.3bn for six-month and Rs121.4bn for 12-month papers. An amount of Rs87.4bn was raised through a non-bidding process.
IMF proposes 45% tax on agriculture income
As Pakistan seeks a multibillion-dollar bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stabilise its chronically ailing economy, the global lender has suggested imposition of a standard individual income tax rate of up to 45% on agriculture income – something that may end the disparity in income tax regime without the need to amend the Constitution.
The condition is part of the structural benchmarks the IMF has defined for the next bailout programme that Pakistan is negotiating with the global lender, according to sources in the Ministry of Finance.
Subject to signing of the new agreement, the sources said that the global lender has set the October 2024 deadline to amend the existing provincial laws to bring them at par with the federal income tax law. The IMF has also asked for rescinding any income tax exemption for the livestock sector by October this year.
Under the Constitution, the federal government cannot impose taxes on agricultural income. The provinces are authorised to collect taxes from the agriculture sector that contributes 24% in the economy but does not contribute even 0.1% of the total taxes collected from across the country.
The IMF has not touched the constitutional arrangement but instead has asked the provinces to simply adopt the income tax rates of non-salaried business individuals that are as high as 45% of net income.
Before the budget, the salaried income tax rate was 35% on the monthly gross income of over Rs500,000, which after the budget is 35% on the monthly income of Rs341,000 and 39% on the monthly income of Rs833,000. For the non-salaried individual, the new rate is 45% of the net income and after adding surcharge it is 50%. The IMF has placed a condition to adopt the standard 45% individual income tax rate for agricultural income too.
In its recent series of reports, the World Bank has estimated that Pakistan can farm income tax equal to 1% of the Gross Domestic Product. This at today’s projected size of the economy is equal to Rs1.22 trillion.
The sources said that provincial governments have by and large given consent to the IMF’s demand. They said that the IMF team also held a meeting with the representatives of the Sindh government on Tuesday. During these meetings, the Sindh government’s view was that the 35% to 45% income tax rate for the agriculture sector was too high compared to the existing 15% maximum rate.