Mini-budget to sail through Senate within IMF deadline: Shaukat Tarin

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Senator Shaukat Tarin on Wednesday announced that the mini-budget, Finance amendment act 2021, will sail through the Senate before the deadline set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on February 02, ARY NEWS reported.

While addressing media in Islamabad, Shaukat Tarin said that the IMF has set February 02 as the deadline for approval of mini-budget from the Senate and it will be met.

He admitted that the salaried class and middle class are the most affected segments of the society owing to the recent inflation, however, the government plans to introduce measures within a week to ensure that their woes are being addressed.

“We will try to increase the income of the middle class,” he said.

Shaukat Tarin said that the country’s economy was moving in the right direction and the recent inflation was owing to supply chain issues faced globally. “It may be possible that this super cycle of inflation may not subside in the next two to three months,” he said.

On January 13, the National Assembly passed the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021— generally known as a “mini-budget” — amid strong protest by opposition parties.

National Assembly rejected all the amendments moved by the opposition members with a majority vote. 150 members voted in favour of the amendments, while 168 voted against them.

On opposition protest, the NA speaker ordered the vote-count for two times and both times opposition parties faced defeat with 150-168 and 146-163 votes.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) – a key ally of ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) – withdrew its amendments on the assurance of the Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin.