Finance minister addresses NA on budget FY27

Finance Minister Muhammad Auranzgeb is currently addressing the National Assembly on matters pertaining to the proposed budget for FY27.

His address follows the NA’s discussions earlier in the day on 140 recommendations made by the Senate on the budget.

Aurangzeb noted that a privilege motion had been moved by Khawaja Sheraz Mehmood and Azimuddin Zahid, which contended that the budget document had discrepancies.

He added that questions were raised on the GDP growth for FY26, the per capita income and their methodology.

“I want to clarify that no changes at all have been made to the methodology used for reporting the economic indicators,” the finance czar said.

He remarked that the economic indicators for FY18 would also be presented before the MNAs who raised the concerns, so that “it is apparent that there is consistency of measurement from administration to administration”.

The minister explained that the real GDP growth was calculated after adjusting for changes in economic activities and their impact on prices.

“This is why the 3.7pc GDP growth reported by PBS (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics) has been calculated on the constant prices of base year FY15-26,” he said, adding that it was an international standard from a methodology perspective.

The finance czar then elaborated that the nominal GDP, which is calculated on current market prices, differed from the real GDP in “both concept and measurement”.

“As per international practices, the per capita income is also determined based on current prices and is calculated on the gross national income (GNI) and estimated population,” he said, noting that the population estimates from 2023 and predictions were used.

Auranzgeb noted that GNI is a sum of the nominal GDP and net factor income received from abroad, and includes workers’ remittances.

He stated that the size of the economy (nominal GDP) rose from $408.2bn in FY25 to $452.1bn in FY26.

More to follow ...