Govt provided tax relief despite financial crisis: Afradi.

ISLAMABAD -- Minister for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) and Narcotics Control, Shehryar Afridi on Wednesday despite vast economic crunch, owing to the negative impacts of coronavirus, the government did not impose any new tax in the budget for the fiscal year 2020-21 to facilitate people and business community.

Participating in the budget debate in the National Assembly, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf lawmaker said due to coronavirus, the world economy was witnessing greatest-ever economic depression since 1929.

He said Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had drastically gone down both in developed and developing countries as all the economies of the world have been engulfed by the coronavirus affects.

The minister said oil prices have reduced to the lowest in last 18 years, hence affecting the countries having such natural resources. In these circumstances, all think tanks are confused, even World Health Organization (WHO) was not confident what to say and what to do, he added.

He said this time Pakistani government presented its budget for the upcoming fiscal year under these circumstances. He said that Rs20 billion were provided for health sector and Rs64 billon for education sector by the Federal government.

He said that after 18th amendment every province was allocating funds for these two sectors. He said that huge amount was also allocated in the field of medicine, adding that Pakistan was now producing export quality medical products.

He said that the government also launched Panagah programme to provide shelter and food to poorest of the poor of the country. Likewise, the allocations under Ehsaas programme were enhanced from Rs187 billion to Rs208 billion to facilitate low income people.

He said that the initiatives taken by the government to highlight Kashmir issue has instilled new spirit in the people of Kashmir who remain stand steadfast to achieve freedom from India.

He termed the Kashmir issues as burning point, which he said had been posing a constant threat to world peace, urging world bodies to help resolve this issue.

He said that Imran Khan exposed Modi's fascist policies across the globe, adding that the neighboring countries of India including Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka realized the Indian approach was dangerous for all the region.

He said that no political party of Pakistan would compromise on Kashmir issue and nuclear programme of the country. He also highlighted the...