Federal govt likely to present mini-budget tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has summoned a session of National Assembly on Monday (tomorrow) as the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf is likely to present its mini-budget in the lower house of parliament.

According to details, the President has summoned the National Assembly Session in the exercise of powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 54 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Reportedly, the government has finalised a mini-budget involving fiscal adjustments and expenditure cuts worth about Rs600 billion as part of an understanding with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Just five months ago, the government had presented a pro-growth budget. It has now announced presenting a mini-budget and taking steps that would pave the way for the approval of the IMF board in the middle of January for the release of $1 billion loan.

As part of the adjustments finalised, the government has decided to reduce spending under the Public Sector Development Programme by Rs200bn, with Rs50bn coming from decrease in general government expenditure. On the other hand, the withdrawal of tax exemptions will earn around Rs350bn for the government.

Meanwhile, the opposition parties have vowed to block mini-budget’s passage. The opposition has long been accusing the government of failing to form effective economic policies that could bring the country out of its financial crisis.

Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday announced that the joint opposition would block the PTI’s mini-budget, saying its passage would be tantamount to committing “national suicide”.

The NA opposition leader said that a collective strategy would be devised through a consensus with the joint opposition to block and reject the mini-budget because it jeopardises the economic sovereignty of the country.

“We reject the IMF and the government’s mini-budget,” Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Sherry Rehman said, adding that the terms of the agreement with the IMF are being kept secret.

On the government’s claim that the inflation would decrease in the coming months, the PPP senator questioned how was the government claiming that food prices would not go up, especially after increasing petroleum levy and sales tax that will make everything more expensive.

Expressing that the mini-budget would push the poor people under a huge burden of taxes, the opposition parties’ lawmakers said that the mini-budget was no solution to the economic problems.