Joint opposition meeting underway ahead of budget presentation

ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the joint opposition in the National Assembly (NA) is underway at the Parliament House, ahead of the budget presentation, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The meeting is being jointly presided over by Opposition Leader in NA Shehbaz Sharif and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Earlier, the separate meetings called by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), were canceled.

The meeting will chalk out opposition’s strategy in the wake of presentation of the federal budget-2019-20 today.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led coalition government is all set to unveil its first budget for the forthcoming fiscal year today, with an estimated outlay of around Rs6 trillion.

Prime Minister’s Advisor on Finance Dr Hafeez Shaikh will present the budget in the National Assembly which is scheduled to meet at 5pm.

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The government is likely to set the revenue collection target at Rs5.55 trillion for the fiscal year 2019-20, according to reports.

It would introduce measures to broaden the tax base, cut all expenditures and bring improvements in the tax administration.

The budget will lay emphasis on austerity, fiscal consolidation, external sector management and social security of the poor.