The finance ministry has found a discrepancy of nearly Rs 2 billion in the country’s federal account. This had led to a rise in last year’s federal budget deficit. It now stands 51 per cent higher than that of the previous year.
Just a week ago, the finance ministry had estimated the federal budget deficit to be around Rs 5.5 trillion, but after the discrepancy, the figure rose to Rs 5.61 trillion, which is the highest in the history of the country, as per a report by The Express Tribune.
The fiscal operations summary which was released on Friday shows that the federal budget deficit rose to Rs 5.61 trillion — which is 8.4% of the gross domestic product (GDP) — in the fiscal year 2021-22 that ended on June 30. The original target was under Rs 4.4 trillion.
The deficit is 51% higher than that of the fiscal year 2020-2021. During both fiscal years, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had been in power.
Miftah Ismail had said after assuming his role as Finance Minister that the federal budget deficit could rise to Rs5.6 trillion due to pending liabilities left behind by the previous government.
The fiscal operations summary revealed the discrepancy to be of Rs197.4 billion, which is considered unusually large. According to a Finance Ministry Budget Wing official, the discrepancy came from the financing side, and will be reconciled in November, when final accounts are printed.
