The federal government has decided to cut the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) of Rs. 1.4 trillion for the fiscal year 2024-25 by Rs. 250 billion to create fiscal space for withdrawing certain taxes.
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Tuesday that the government has to follow stringent conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a bid to secure a new loan program.
The minister said that the decision to cut the development budget has been taken to protect the public from more taxes.
After the cut, the development budget for the upcoming fiscal year will be down to Rs. 1.15 trillion.
On June 12, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb proposed a record Rs. 1.4 trillion for development spending during FY25.
