Cabinet approves up to 35% increase in salaries of govt employees. The federal cabinet has approved a massive rise in government employee pay to help them cope with increasing inflation.
The cabinet gave its approval in a meeting headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ahead of the budget for the fiscal year 2023-23, which will be introduced in the National Assembly today (Friday).
According to reports, the cabinet approves up to 35% increase in salaries of govt employees in Grades 1 through 16, as well as a 30% increase for officers in Grade 17 and beyond.
It has approved a 17.5% increase in pension of the retired government employees.
Under the ICT (tax on services) Ordinance, 2001, the government of Pakistan proposed to reduce the services tax on restaurants to 5% in the fiscal year 2023-24 if payment is made through debit or credit cards, mobile wallets, or QR scanning.
In one of the salient features of budget 2023-24 unveiled on Friday, the document stated that “services provided by restaurants including cafes, food (including ice-cream) parlors, coffee houses, coffee shops, deras, food huts, eateries, resorts, and similar cooked, prepared or ready-to-eat food service outlets are proposed to be taxed at 5% if payment is made through debit or credit cards, mobile wallets or QR scanning”.
The government has allowed big relief for the manufacturers of Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HCVs) in the 2023-24 fiscal budget.
Finance Bill 2023-24 document available states that the Customs Duty (CD) on the import of completely knocked down (CKD) buses and trucks has been reduced from 10% to 5%.
The government has also imposed a 15% CD on the import of agricultural tractors. According to the details, the government has set the CD for these tractors as per their engine power.
A document available with ProPakistani states that the government has imposed 15% CD on tractors with engine power between 26 kW and 75 kW. For agricultural tractors other than those mentioned above, the CD is 10%.
