He told the House that the US has pledged an amount of US$ 132.00 million during the last 10 years through International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement - Pakistan (INL-P) for controlling terrorism in the country. However, an amount of US$ 111.00 million have been received on this account, he added. He said that the total amount of Rs 297.25 billion spent on the counterterrorism operations also included Rs 19.420 billion for lighting and fencing of Pak-Afghan border as part of the border management to check cross border terrorists' movement.
Giving further details, he said that Rs 152.925 billion were released on account of special allocations to army over and above normal defence budget regarding security related and for the spending on operation Zarb-e-Azb. He said that Rs 1 billion were released [during 2014-15] for managements of IDPs of the Zarb-e-Azb operation, Rs 33.4 billion to special security division (SSD) during 2014-18, Rs 32.3 in terms of internal security duty allowance during 2008-18, Rs 15 billion to Pak navy [2014-17], Rs 4 billion on account of operation in Swat out of Al-Mizan (CSF) [2009-10], Rs 9.3 billion for operation Rah-e-Rast and Rah-e-Nijat [2009-10] out of Al-Mizan (CSF), Rs 15 billion for Zarb-e-Azb to army [during 2014-15] out of the allocation of al-Mizan (CSF) while Rs 12 billion were release to PAF from the years 2015 to 2017.
Whereas, over Rs 67 billion were granted to the law-enforcement agencies Frontier Corps KP (North) and Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts, he said, adding that over Rs 31 billion were also released to bodies falling under the Defence Ministry. He said that an additional Rs 45 billion were given to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas [FATA) Secretariat for the rehabilitation and return of internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Responding another question, the Minister said that the government had taken steps to stop smuggling of foreign currency, and restricted travelers going abroad from carrying more than $10,000 at a time. Additionally, he said that travelers cannot carry more than $60,000 abroad per year, adding that a notification has been issued by the State Bank of Pakistan in this regard.
He said the government had also taken steps to stop the circulation of counterfeit foreign currency through currency exchange dealers. To another query, he told the House that the amount of circular debt stood at Rs 472,678 million as on November 30, 2017.
Responding to another query, he said that share of foreign loans as percentage of GDP had declined from 21.4 percent to 20.6 percent in 2016-17 while it was around 29.3 percent in 2009-10. While share of foreign loans in total public debt was around 48 percent in 2009-10 which had reduced to 31 percent in 2016-17, he said, adding the government had been able to reduce the relative foreign debt burden of Pakistan.
Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal, while responding a query, told the House that that projects of 11110 megawatts power capacity was in the active list under CPEC while several others were being looked into in terms of their feasibility. He said that hydropower projects of 30000 MW potential along with Indus River basin were also being looked into, which would also be financed by the China, including Diamer Basha dam and Bunji dam.
To a query, Minister of State for Finance told the House that inflation rate stood during July-December 2017-18 remained at 3.75 percent, which was at 7.36 percent in 2012-13. He was confident that the inflation rate would remain below 5 percent even after the local currency had been devalued, because of excellent agriculture production, including wheat and sugar, which lied in stocks surplus.
He said that owing to enhanced enforcement measures, foreign currency smuggling abroad had been brought down, adding that during the last five years, $2.154 million had been seized.
The minister also told the House that the total amount of debt taken by the government from the SBP since 2013 to November 2017 is Rs 579 billion. He said the share of direct taxes and indirect taxes in 1970-71 was 19.0 per cent and 81 percent respectively, which recorded at 31.8 percent and 68.2 percent in 2000-2001 and in 2016-17, it was 39.9 percent and 60.1 percent respectively.
The minister said that under the head of petroleum levy, Rs 131,357million collected in 2014-15, Rs 149,290 million in 2015-16 and Rs 166,696 million in 2016-17. To another question, the Minster of State for Finance informed the House that a total of 34 public and private sector banks were operating across Pakistan, which included five public sector banks, four specialized public sector banks and 20 private and five foreign banks.
The minister said he needed s fresh notice when Senator Babar asked whether the Bank of China was given any relaxation or concession in taxes.