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| 13 June 2004 | Sunday | 24 Rabi-us-Saani 1425 |
Govt employees get 15pc raise: Relief for pensioners
ISLAMABAD, June 12: Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday announced a number of relief measures including a 15 per cent dearness allowance for government employees and 8 to 16 per cent raise for pensioners.
In his budget speech in the National Assembly, he said that a greater relief to government employees and pensioners will be provided shortly.
The government, he pointed out, had decided to set up a new pay and pension committee which will submit its report within six months. In the light of that report, considerable relief will be offered.
"Therefore, both these reliefs are ad hoc, to be adjusted later once the committee submits its report," he added.
Mr Aziz clarified that government employees who had retired before 1994 will get an ad hoc relief of 16 per cent and those who had taken retirement after 1994 will be extended an 8 per cent relief.
To provide relief to pensioners and widows, a special saving scheme had been initiated. The current limit of Rs1 million on investment in the scheme, the minister said, was being raised to Rs2 million.
The requirement of depositing the amount in one tranche has been dispensed with and investment can be made as desired by the investors, he said.
Loans from the House Building Finance Corporation are generally utilized by borrowers from low-income groups, he said.
To give relief to this group, it has been proposed to freeze the amount owed as on July 1, 2004, for those whose time for repayment has expired, the minister said, adding that the outstanding frozen amount "can be repaid over 36 equal monthly instalments through post-dated cheques."
"This will alleviate the hardship of 38,000 borrowers who are mostly widows, retired persons and people from extremely low-income (brackets)," the finance minister said.
For the remaining outstanding cases where repayment time has not expired, borrowers will be allowed to repay the amount in equal instalments in the remaining period of the loan through post-dated cheques. For such loans, the real charge will be reduced from 18 per cent to 10 per cent from July 1, 2004. This concession will provide relief to another 125,000 borrowers of HBFC, Mr Aziz said.
He also announced concessions for Overseas Pakistanis. "This year, they will be remitting $3.8 billion against a target of $3.6 billion," he said.
"We have taken a number of initiatives to promote welfare of expatriates and maintain their links with their motherland."
"And now we are enhancing the duty free allowance as well as adding a few more items to the list of eligible goods under the scheme," he said, without giving any details.
He urged overseas Pakistanis to send their remittances through banking channels.
"On our part, we will do everything to ensure that our exchange rate remains competitive and their remittances are transmitted effectively to their destinations," he said.
He said the National Savings Centres will be transformed into a corporation to be known as 'Pakistan Savings' which will be run on commercial lines. At present, the NSC is marketing only government securities through a network of some 320 branches.
The new company, he said, will diversify its business by offering mutual funds of different kinds which will be managed by professional asset management companies.
The company will play an important role in resource mobilization and help increase the availability of domestic resources for investment.
The finance minister said that a pension fund will be developed in the private sector. The Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan will soon be announcing separate rules for the establishment of pension funds by asset management companies.
Domestic TV holders are currently required to pay TV licence fee of Rs300 per annum in lump sum. This system, Mr Aziz said, burdens the TV set holders besides giving them the discomfort as they are made to stand in long queues.
This fee will now be collected in 12 equal monthly instalments of Rs25 each through domestic electricity bills from those whose monthly consumption of electricity exceeds 100 units, he said.
This scheme will not be applicable for Fata, Pata, and AJK.
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