Finance | Pakistan

• Employees to pay 10pc, govt 12pc • Pension liabilities rise to Rs1.055tr in 2024-25, driven by armed forces pensions ISLAMABAD: With some discretionary changes, the government announced on Friday that federal employees will contribute 10 per cent of their pensionable pay to qualify for a 12pc contribution from the public exchequer under the newly formalised contributory pension fund scheme. The total contribution rate will thus be 22pc, replacing the traditional pension system for new entrants. The Ministry of Finance (MoF) published the “Federal Government Defined Contribution (FGDC) Pension Fund Scheme Rules 2024” under the Public Finance Management Act 2019, which regulates the scheme according to the Voluntary Pension System Rules 2005 and Non-Banking Finance Companies and Notified Entities Regulations 2008. These rules supersede an earlier MoF order of August 2024, which had set the government’s contribution at 20pc. On Aug 20, 2024, the MoF initially announced the introduction of the contributory pens...

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari has given his assent to the Finance Act 2025, which outlines the budget for the upcoming fiscal year with an outlay of Rs17.

President Asif Ali Zardari has given his assent to the Finance Act 2025, which outlines the budget for the upcoming fiscal year with an outlay of Rs17.57 trillion, it emerged on Monday. According to a gazette notification dated June 29, available with Dawn.com, the Finance Act 2025, as approved by the National Assembly, received the president’s assent on June 27. The act will be applicable from July 1, according to the information ministry. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb unveiled Pakistan’s annual federal budget in a charged June 10 National Assembly session, outlining ambitious proposals to drive 4.2 per cent economic growth in the coming fiscal year while cutting back on overall spending and tightening tax measures. The National Assembly passed the federal budget for the upcoming fiscal year on June 26, with an outlay of Rs17.57tr, despite opposition calls for the budgetary proposals to be made public and for the passage to be delayed until public input had been sought. The House passed it with certain...

Finance Secretary Imdadullah Bosal on Thursday said that the ban on cryptocurrency was still in place across Pakistan, stressing the need for its regulation. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) does not recognise crypto assets, which are digital currencies in which transactions are verified and recorded by a decentralised system. The SBP issued a formal notice in 2022 advising the general public to be cautious of and refrain from trading cryptocurrencies. During today’s meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance, PPP MNA Sharmila Farooqi introduced a bill on digital currency regulations, prompting different remarks from committee members. “There are no regulations for cryptocurrency,” Farooqui said, adding that since Pakistan was moving towards digital currency, cryptocurrency should be decentralised. She highlighted Pakistan’s exit from the ‘grey list’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) — a global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog — and said, “How will Pakistan protect...