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FOR the first time in years, Pakistan’s budget reads less like a crisis management document and more like a cautious growth agenda.
The budget for FY27 comes at a moment when IMF-mandated stabilisation has helped significantly improve the fiscal position, slash inflation, and contain the current account deficit. For a government that spent its first two years ‘firefighting’, this is the first budget that makes political choices.
How it has used that opportunity represents both the government’s priorities, and its constraints.
“This budget signals a transition from stabilisation towards moderate growth. The salary tax reduction, the removal of super tax for small and medium enterprises, the reduction in super tax from 10pc to 8pc for larger companies, the relief for exporters: these are moving in a positive direction and will be well-received by both the corporate and salaries people,” says AAH Soomro, an independent market and financial analyst.
