ISLAMABAD: A high level meeting presided over by the Prime Minister of Pakistan today (Saturday) concluded where matters pertaining to the federal budget and the current political situation were underscored, ARY News reported.
Advisor to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, Abdul Hafeez Sheikh briefed the attendees about the budget and government’s economic objectives while the Prime Minister’s ‘debt probe commission’ was also discussed and briefed upon.
The Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Shabbar Zaidi also addressed the meeting and informed about reform initiatives being undertaken for taxation and meeting goals set by the institute.
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The Prime Minister also addressed the attendants and took them into confidence over his initiatives against corruption, he briefed the gathering about the debt probe commission and it’s mechanism and announced that the formation and finalization of the team responsible for carrying out the deed would be announced soon, sources claimed.
Earlier on June 11, Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced to establish a high-powered commission under his supervision to find out facts behind soaring loans worth Rs24,000 billion.
The commission would be comprised of officials from Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and would be directly overlooked by the Prime Minister himself.
The high-powered commission being formulated to probe debt and corrupt practices of the past 10 years will also go after Iqama holders, said Imran Khan the sources quoted.
The Prime Minister claimed that the economy had stablised after an arduous journey, He confessed that the country would’ve gone bankrupt if tough decisions were not made.
“We are currently paying the largest sum in terms of interest in the history of Pakistan,” confessed Khan.
Although he expressed hope that the economy will now take off towards prosperity.
“The country has seen a 30% decrease in its current account deficit,” announced Khan.
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Initiatives like ‘Ehsas’ and poverty alleviation projects building towards the Prime Minister’s vision of making Pakistan a self reliant welfare state also came under discussion in the meeting.
An allocation for the ‘Ehsas Program’ has been increased to Rs.191 billion from the previously announced Rs.100 billion.
Discussing the high profile arrests that took place in the recent past over corruption charges, the Prime Minister expressed that those under custody are asking for a something along the lines of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) to find a way out of the predicament they were in, sources revealed.
In conclusion of the meeting, tomorrow’s Pakistan/India World Cup clash also came up in the discussion where the former World Cup winning captain Imran Khan demanded the cricket team to play fearless cricket.
