Day: June 28, 2024

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar has assured journalists that problems faced by them will be solved on priority basis. Talking to newsmen outside Parliament House in Islamabad today, he announced to constitute a committee for protection of rights of journalists. The Minister said a mechanism will be made and meetings will be held with the provincial governments to investigate the cases regarding the killing of journalists. He said the government is fully focused on timely payment of salaries and dues to journalists and media workers. Attaullah Tarar said the issue of salaries and dues of journalists is being discussed with Pakistan Broadcasters Association and All Pakistan Newspapers Society. He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has always accorded importance to solve problem of delay in payments to journalists and media workers. The Minister said he stands in the frontline with journalists and there should be no mis-coordination on any issue of journalists. He said still muc h work needs to be done on defamation law and discussions are going on with journalist organizations on the law. Source: Radio Pakistan

Different sectors of Pakistan's economy have witnessed positive trajectory during the outgoing fiscal year 2023-24 due to prudent policies of the government. According to Economic Outlook report of Finance Division, the agriculture sector witnessed an overall growth of 6.3 percent with strong quarterly growth rates during the fiscal year 2023-24. The foreign investment during July-May 2023-24 recorded an inflow of 1.2 billion dollars as against 0.5 billion dollars of previous fiscal year. The total foreign exchange reserves increased to 13.1 billion dollars this month while net federal revenues grew by 51 percent to reach 5627.5 billion rupees against 3715.3 billion rupees last year. The Consumer Price Index inflation reached its lowest level in 30 months and was recorded at 11.8 percent last month, showing a significant decline from 38.0 percent in the same month of last year. Large scale manufacturing sector experienced moderate growth of 0.45 percent during July-April of fiscal year 2023-24, marki ng an improvement of 8.8 percent as compared to same period of last fiscal year. The current account posted a deficit of 0.5 billion dollars during Jul-May 2024 as against a deficit of 3.8 billion dollars last year, largely reflecting an improvement in trade balance. The performance of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) also remained upbeat during last month with KSE-100 index continuing its bullish trend and closing at 75,878 points. Inflow of remittances in July-May2023-24 recorded an increase of 7.7 percent at 27.1 billion dollars as compared to 25.1 billion dollars last year. Source: Radio Pakistan

The National Assembly has passed the Finance Bill, 2024 with certain amendments, giving effect to the financial proposals of the federal government for the year beginning on the 1st July 2024. A motion to this effect was moved by Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb. Having the total outlay of 18877 billion rupees, the budget focuses on fiscal consolidation. The gross revenue receipts have been estimated at 17815 billion rupees. These include FBR's revenue collection of 12970 billion rupees and non-tax revenue 4845 billion rupees. The share of provinces in the federal receipts will be 7438 billion rupees. The growth rate is expected to be 3.6 percent during the next fiscal year. Inflation is expected to be 12 percent, budget deficit 5.9 percent of GDP and primary surplus will be one percent of GDP. The development budget has been set at the historic level of 1500 billion rupees. The budget envisages 25 percent increase in the salaries of government employees from Grade-1 to 16 and 20 percent from G rade-17 to 22. Fifteen percent raise has been given in the pension of retired government employees. The minimum wages have been enhanced from 32,000 to 37,000 rupees. Speaking on the occasion Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said cardiology stents, surgery items and books as well as ex-FATA and PATA have been given tax exemption. He said that this tax exemption for education and health was given in very difficult economic conditions. The Finance Minister further said that exemptions to the agricultural inputs like fertilizers and pesticides as well as exemption to Researchers and teachers will continue. He said that we all need pure milk and we want to promote it, but tax exemption cannot be given on packed milk which is not of standard. The House has approved 53 supplementary demands for grants pertaining to various ministries and divisions for 2022-23 and 25 demands for fiscal year 2023-24. Besides, the National Assembly approved 26 excess demands to meet the excess expenditure of various ministr ies and divisions for financial year 2022-23. The National Assembly also passed 'The Election (Amendment) Bill 2024.' The House has now been prorogued. Source: Radio Pakistan

US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome called on Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar in Islamabad today. During the meeting, the two sides reviewed the latest developments in Pak-US bilateral relations and discussed ways to move the relationship forward. Source: Radio Pakistan