Islamabad October 30 2022: Federal government posted a surplus of Rs 142 billion in the first month of fiscal year 2023, according to Pakistan ministry of finance.
The FY23 budget aims for an underlying general government primary surplus of 0.4 percent of GDP as agreed with IMF, a consolidation of over 2.5 percent of GDP.
Net federal revenues in July FY2023 increased by 9.3 percent to Rs 229 billion against Rs 209 billion in the same period last year. Total expenditures increased by only 3.7 percent to reach Rs 536 billion in July FY2023 compared to Rs 517 billion in the same month last year.
Within the total, current expenditures increased by 8.0 percent to Rs 531 billion in July FY2023 as compared to Rs 492 billion in the same period last year. Thus, the fiscal deficit has been contained to 0.3 percent of GDP in July FY2023 against 0.4 percent last year. Whereas the primary balance posted a surplus of Rs 142 billion in July FY2023 against the deficit of Rs 5 billion last year.
During Jul-Aug FY2023, provisional net revenue collection grew by 9.7 percent to reach Rs 948.1 billion against Rs 864.5 billion in the comparable period of last year. While in the month of August, the provisional net collection increased by 9.4 percent to Rs 489.7 billion against Rs 447.6 billion in August last year. Despite floods, a zero rating on POL products, and import compression, FBR has been able to surpass the target by 22.5 billion during Jul-Aug FY2023.
