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ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday announced a decline in tax exemptions in the outgoing fiscal year — the first such reduction in recent years — according to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26 unveiled by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.
The survey noted an unprecedented 3.37pc fall in tax exemptions, bringing the cost down to Rs2.353 trillion in FY26 from the downward-revised Rs2.434tr recorded in FY25.
In FY25, the government had initially reported exemptions at Rs5.84tr, a sharp 51pc rise from Rs3.879tr a year earlier. However, the figure was later revised to Rs2.434tr, with the survey offering no explanation beyond a reference to “errata”.
The decline in the cost of tax exemptions comes after seven consecutive years of increases, despite repeated government assurances that such concessions would be gradually curtailed under the International Monetary Fund programme.
