ISLAMABAD
Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting to review budget process at the Finance Ministry on Thursday.
Chairman FBR Tariq Bajwa briefed the Finance Minister on the proposals suggested by the chambers, industry representatives and professional bodies. The Finance Minister said that while finalising budget we have to give a serious thought to these proposals. He directed the FBR members to simplify the procedures involved in filing returns and incentives be given to the return filers as compared to the non filers. He added that the tax payers should be facilitated by simplifying tax reporting so that people prefer to pay taxes rather than evading tax process.
The meeting was also attended by Members FBR, Advisor to the Finance Ministry, Rana Assad Amin and senior officials of the FBR and Finance Ministry.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar on Thursday said that Federal Government would assist and help to overcome the financial deficit of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir government.
The Finance Minister said this while talking to Ch Abdul Majid, Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir who called on him at Finance Ministry. The Prime Minister AJK was accompanied by Ch Latif Akbar, Minister for Finance AJK. The Finance Minister welcomed the Prime Minister and briefed him on the economic performance of the government. He said that in the last eleven months, structural reforms were introduced with total commitment and hard work. He said that as a result of these reforms, the government had to take some painful decisions to fix the economy and now the economy is in much better shape. Growth is moving up whereas deficit has been restricted to single digit, he added. He also mentioned about the achievements made in restoring confidence of the IFIs.
The Prime Minister mentioned about the financial issues which the AJK Government is currently facing. He said that the AJK Government has maintained fiscal discipline to a maximum level. He added that education and health facilities need to be financed after reconstruction of buildings by ERRA. He said that due to non-availability of funds, health and education staff cannot be appointed to these facilities. He also highlighted meager resources of AJK for allocation to Public Sector Development Projects.
The Finance Minister assured the AJK PM that the Federal Government will assist and help to overcome the financial deficit and a future roadmap will be drawn with the help of the concerned officials of the AJK Government. The Finance Minister directed the Finance Secretary to hold a separate meeting with the Chief Secretary and Finance Secretary AJK to help resolve the budgetary issues.