Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar has said that the government has presented a budget focused on relief, development, and prosperity.

He was giving an Online Briefing on the federal budget for financial year 2026-27 to social media influencers along with Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani today.

The Minister said the next fiscal year budget is quite different from previous budgets. He said some people are used to criticize everything and believe in criticism for the sake of criticism. He further said the opposition benches are also appreciating the budget.

Attaullah Tarar said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held successful negotiations and settled matters with the International Monetary Fund through his personal efforts to bring economic stability.

He said Prime Minister has been consistently stating during the past two years to give relief to the people provided that space allows it. He said we did not wait for availability of space, but created room to give relief.

Elaborating the government achievements, Attaullah Tarar said the government reformed the FBR, integrated the tax collection system, expanded tax net and introduced transparency and merit.

He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's vision was clear that the burden of tax defaulters cannot be put on taxpayers.

Attaullah Tarar said the PML-N made efforts to stabilize economy and Prime Minister took the matters related to the economy in his hands under the vision of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.

He said had the issues not been resolved with the International Monetary Fund in Paris, the country would have witnessed a default.

He said the government controlled tax leakages in sugar, cement, tobacco, beverages and industrial sectors. He mentioned that the government collected 800 billion rupees tax through enforcement during the last year. He said relief was given to the salaried class, exporters, and industry in the next year budget.

The Information Minister said the government collected 60 billion rupees additional tax from the sugar mills through reforms and also stopped illegal trade of goods through consistent raids.

He said important initiatives have been proposed in the budget regarding the housing sector and 90 billion rupees have been allocated for the Apna Ghar program.

Attaullah Tarar said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his entire team worked round the clock for economic stability.

He also lauded the hard work and untiring efforts of Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and their teams and all stakeholders including SIFC for playing their remarkable role for economic stability.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani, termed the next year budget as people-friendly and relief-oriented.

He said the budget would provide a massive relief to the exporters, industry, housing and construction sectors, youth, women folk, salaried class and tax payers.

Bilal Azhar Kayani said special focus has been given in the next year budget to broaden tax net and lessen sufferings of the vulnerable segments of society.

He said new tribunals have been set up to resolve tax related issues and increase revenue.

Replying to a question, Minister of State for Finance said education and health are provincial subjects, and federal allocations for these sectors should be deemed collectively along with the provincial allocations.

During the Online Briefing, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Minister of State for Finance also gave answers of various questions raised by the social media influencers.