Mini-budget: Federal govt to pass Finance Bill from parliament

ISLAMABAD: After President Dr Arif Alvi’s objections, the federal government has decided to pass the Finance Bill from the parliament which is also being termed ‘mini-budget’, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

Sources told ARY News that the Finance Bill will be presented before the National Assembly (NA) and the Senate during separate sessions on Wednesday (tomorrow).

The Houses will forward the Finance Bill related to the budgetary recommendations to the standing committees on finance.

Sources said that the standing committees of the Upper and Lower Houses are expected to approve the Finance Bill by Thursday. On the same day, the NA and the Senate will pass the mini-budget legislation and later the bill will be forwarded to the president.

READ: ECC APPROVES HIKING GAS PRICE BY 112% FOR DOMESTIC CONSUMERS

The federal government accelerated efforts to immediately approve the Finance Bill to implement the conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the revival of the loan programme. The hurdles in the IMF agreement would be removed after the legislation.

It was learnt that the federal government will get approval from the parliament through the new legislation to impose Rs170 billion in new taxes.

Prior to this development, sources said that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar will hold a press conference to announce the federal cabinet’s decision regarding the mini-budget legislation. However, the finance ministry’s spokesperson said that Dar will not address the scheduled press conference.

The ministry said that the mini-budget will be tabled before the NA tomorrow and a session was summoned.

In a relevant development, President Dr Arif Alvi summoned separate sessions of the NA and the Senate tomorrow under Article 54(1) of the Constitution. The NA session was summoned at 3:30 pm and the Senate’s session at 4:30 pm.

President’s objections

President Dr Arif Alvi has raised objections on the government’s bid to impose the ‘mini-budget’ recommendations through an ordinance.

Sources told ARY News that the federal government decided to impose an ordinance for implementing the budgetary recommendations.

The federal government is seeking approval from the president to sign an ordinance for the imposition of a mini-budget ordinance today.

READ: PAKISTAN-IMF TALKS: GOVT ACCELERATES IMPLEMENTING ‘TOUGH CONDITIONS’

Following President Dr Arif Alvi’s objections, the government team mulled over the next strategy. Sources said that the president wants to approve the mini-budget-related legislation via a bill which should be presented before the parliament.

On the other hand, the federal government wants to immediately impose the legislation via an ordinance instead of passing a bill from the parliament to avoid spending more time.

Sources added that the government would contact President Alvi again to request him to immediately promulgate the ordinance after its approval from the federal cabinet. It was learnt that the budget-related ordinance cannot be tabled in the joint sitting of the parliament.

The federal government would be bound to seek the president’s order again for summoning another joint sitting with new agenda items after concluding the ongoing session. The federal government thinks the president would not summon the parliament’s joint session again if the ongoing sitting is concluded.