{"id":2811,"date":"2025-06-12T11:21:26","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T06:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/?p=2811"},"modified":"2025-06-12T09:39:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T04:39:31","slug":"aurangzeb-defends-budget-announces-major-tariff-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/2025\/06\/12\/aurangzeb-defends-budget-announces-major-tariff-cuts","title":{"rendered":"Aurangzeb Defends Budget, Announces Major Tariff Cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"187\" data-end=\"460\"><strong>ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has reaffirmed the government&#8217;s commitment to structural reforms and responsible fiscal policy, defending the federal budget for 2025-26 while unveiling significant tariff reductions aimed at stimulating economic growth.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"462\" data-end=\"616\">Journalists temporarily walked out of the post-budget press conference in protest over the alleged lack of transparency from government and FBR officials.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"618\" data-end=\"758\">Despite the protest, the finance minister addressed key economic issues, including tax enforcement, tariffs, and the unchanged minimum wage.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"765\" data-end=\"802\"><strong data-start=\"769\" data-end=\"802\">Tariff Cuts to Boost Industry<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"804\" data-end=\"945\">Aurangzeb revealed that out of 7,000 existing tariff lines, the government has decided to eliminate additional customs duties on 4,000 items.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"947\" data-end=\"1052\">He termed this reform vital for improving Pakistan\u2019s global trade competitiveness and supporting exports.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1054\" data-end=\"1160\">According to him, the cuts are designed to remove inefficiencies and reduce input costs for manufacturers.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"1167\" data-end=\"1205\"><strong data-start=\"1171\" data-end=\"1205\">Tax Enforcement, No New Burden<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1207\" data-end=\"1339\">The minister clarified that over Rs400 billion in additional tax revenue was generated through better enforcement, not new taxation.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1341\" data-end=\"1424\">Only Rs312 billion of the total Rs2.2 trillion increase came from new tax measures.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1426\" data-end=\"1552\">He highlighted the importance of legislative amendments to support long-term enforcement efforts and prevent revenue leakages.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1554\" data-end=\"1696\">Aurangzeb also shared that the country\u2019s tax-to-GDP ratio currently stands at 10.3%, with a target to increase it to 10.9% in the coming year.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1698\" data-end=\"1801\">The minister added that Parliament would be consulted to pass necessary laws for effective enforcement.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1808\" data-end=\"1933\">The government also announced that the minimum wage will remain unchanged at Rs37,000 per month, citing limited fiscal space.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1935\" data-end=\"2100\">He stressed that future decisions regarding public sector salaries, including those of ministers and parliamentarians, would be approached with balance and fairness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has reaffirmed the government&#8217;s commitment to structural reforms and responsible fiscal policy, defending the federal budget for 2025-26 while unveiling significant tariff reductions aimed at stimulating economic growth. Journalists temporarily walked out of the post-budget press conference in protest over the alleged lack of transparency from government and FBR officials. &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[39,1417,1134],"class_list":["post-2811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tie-business","tag-budget","tag-enforcement","tag-tariff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2813,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2811\/revisions\/2813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdigital.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}