Agriculture credit disbursement witnessed a 28.5 percent growth during the first eight months of current fiscal year as compared to the disbursement of the corresponding period of last year as the government provided an amount of Rs1,073.5 billion to the farming community for uplift of the country’s agriculture sector, considered backbone of the national economy.
During the period from July-February, 2022-23, the agriculture credit disbursement recorded at Rs1,073.5 billion, which was Rs 835.3 billion during same period of the last year, according the Monthly Economic Update and Outlook for March-2023 released by the Ministry of Finance.
For the Rabi crops’ season 2022-23, the harvest of wheat crop has been started in Sindh, while it was scheduled to be harvested in Punjab by the end of March, whereas the Kissan package is expected to bode up the crop productivity in the aftermath of flood damages. However, the issued related to climate changes would play a critical role in achieving the target.
More importantly, the government has increased the wheat support price from Rs 2,200 to Rs3,900 per 40 kg to incentivize the local farmers.
The fiscal deficit during first seven months of the current fiscal year (2022-23) has been contained to 2.3 percent of the GDP [Gross Domestic Product] against 2.8 percent of the last year’s GDP. The primary balance has posted a surplus of Rs 945 billion during July-January against the deficit of Rs 210 billion of the last year.
Total expenditures grew by 10 percent, largely driven by expenditures on markup payments which surged by 73 percent due to higher servicing on domestic and foreign debts, according the report.
The net provisional tax collection increased by 8.2 percent to Rs4,493.3 billion during the period from Jul-February against Rs3,802.1 billion in the comparable period of last year.
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