Finance Minister Aurangzeb unveils Federal Budget 2025-26 amid challenges

As soon as the session began, opposition members started chanting slogans.

At the beginning of his speech, the finance minister said: “This budget is being presented during a historic moment, as the country pressed on through difficult times.”

“This budget is being presented at a historic time when the nation showed unity [and] determination,” he said, mentioning the recent Pak-India conflict.

“The spirit with which we protected our national sovereignty, we need to ensure our financial security in the same way,” he stressed.

He continued through the noisy session: “Pakistan has now achieved economic stability and is moving towards a Pakistan that is prosperous”.

The minister highlighted the current account surplus, remittances and the stability of the rupee while also mentioning the positive reports from international credit rating agencies Moody’s and Fitch that upgraded Pakistan’s rating.

Aurangzeb said that it was unavoidable to aim for a 14pc tax-to-GDP ratio and added that achieving the national targets was “impossible without the transformation of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).”

Detailing that transformation, the minister listed B2B e-voicing, AI-based audit selection systems for sales and income tax, e-billing and faceless audits, and a new central control unit to centralise data collection, among other steps.