By Zaheer Abbasi

The government has closed the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year (July-September 2021) with a budget deficit of 0.8 percent or in absolute terms Rs438 billion of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the Finance Ministry.

According to Consolidated Federal and Provincial Fiscal Operation for July-September, 2021 released by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, total revenue collection stood at Rs1.8 trillion with tax revenue of Rs1.5 trillion, and non-tax revenue Rs275 billion.

While, the total expenditures for the period under review were Rs2.24 trillion with current expenditures of Rs1.96 trillion and development expenditure and net lending remained Rs264.6 billion. The primary deficit was recorded surplus by 0.3 percent of the GDP and budget deficit financing was met through external net borrowing of Rs466 billion whereas net domestic borrowing was negative by Rs27.3 billion.

The federal government tax collection on account of collected taxes of Rs1.39 trillion whereas provincial collected Rs134.7 billion. In non-tax collection, the federal government collection stood at Rs241.5 billion and provincial governments Rs34 billion.

The direct tax collection by the federal government stood at Rs481 billion, taxes on international trade Rs221 billion, sales tax Rs624 billion, and FED Rs70 billion.

The provincial government Rs134.7 billion included sales tax on services of Rs66 billion, excise duty Rs2 billion, stamp duty Rs14 billion, motor vehicle duty Rs9 billion, and others taxes were Rs42 billion.

Of the total Rs276 billion non-tax revenue collection during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, federal government share was Rs241.5 billion, which included mark up and PSEs and others Rs19.4 billion, dividend Rs1.9 billion, SBP profit Rs109 billion, the PTA surplus Rs30 billion, royalties on oil/gas Rs21.7 billion, defence receipts Rs2.8 billion, passport fee Rs6.1 billion, discount retained on crude oil Rs3.5 billion, windfall levy against crude oil Rs2.2 billion, gas infrastructure development cess Rs6.5 billion, natural gas surcharges Rs4.7 billion, petroleum levy Rs13.3 billion, and others collection was Rs18.9 billion. Provincial non-tax revenue was Rs34.2 billion.

In current expenditure, mark-up payments during the first quarter were Rs622.7 billion, Rs571 billion domestic and Rs51.5 billion foreign, defence spending was Rs261.6 billion, pension Rs110.7 billion, running of civil government Rs89.4 billion, subsidies Rs74 billion and grant to others Rs169 billion. The provincial current expenditure stood at Rs640 billion. Statistical discrepancy of Rs14 billion was reported in the fiscal operation.

Development spending (Public Sector Development Programme) during the first quarter of Rs262 billion included Rs108 billion federal, and Rs153 provincial and net lending of Rs2.5 billion.

The provinces generated a budget surplus of Rs276.9 billion in first quarter with Rs183 billion by Punjab, Rs60 billion by Sindh, Rs3 billion negative by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Rs37 billion surplus by Balochistan.

This article first appeared in Business Recorded on Nov 10, 2021.