ISLAMABAD – Finance Minister Asad Umar said only 10 percent raise has beenmade in the prices of gas for the poor segments of society. He said theincrease is still less than 46% which was suggested by Oil and GasRegulatory Authority. He said OGRA had indicated that increase in gasprices is critical as the sector was facing a loss of 154 billion rupees.
He said the government has even reduced the thirty percent tax on LPG andbrought it down to 10%. He said the increase in fertilizer prices is due toenhanced rates on exporters of Punjab in the previous government. He saidPTI government has even reduced the price of gas by 44 billion rupees forthe exporters.
On the issue of circular debt, the Finance Minister said the circular debthas reached 1180 billion rupees which was piled up in the previousgovernment’s tenure.
Asad Umar said taxes to the tune of 70 billion rupees in finance bill hitthe luxury goods including vehicles of 1800 cc and above, expensive cellphones and imported food stuff, which are not used by ordinary people. Hesaid tax evaders will be brought into tax net and government will activelypursue them.
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Finance Minister Asad Umer laid before the House the Finance Supplementary(Amendment) Bill, 2018 for consideration.
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018and Elections (amendment) Ordinance, 2018 were also laid before theNational Assembly.
