ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to announce the federal budget for 2017-18 on May 26 in the parliament session, ARY News reported.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in a press conference has said that the government has decided to announce the budget a bit earlier as the holy month of Ramzan approaching on May 28.
Terming it an unprecedented move, Dar said that the budget would come in the public domain before June for the first time as successive governments had failed to do so despite making commitments to announce the budget in May to provide reasonable time for parliamentary debate.
Moreover, he said that the government had dismissed the objections raised by the United Nations (UN) over the Army’s assistance in the census.
He said that population census in FATA would be conducted in the second phase. Census will also be conducted in the areas, where army operation has been underway, he maintained.
Sources said that the government was also considering five to seven percent rise in the budget of different ministries, without specifying any.
The sources further said the government also considering ten percent increment in government employees’ salaries and pensions in the budget of new fiscal year.
