President Arif Alvi raises objections on govt’s mini-budget ordinance

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has raised objections on the government’s bid to impose the ‘mini-budget’ recommendations through an ordinance, citing sources, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

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.

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.

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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.

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Dar-Alvi meeting

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Ishaq Dar called on President Dr Arif Alvi at Aiwan-e-Sadr today.

During the meeting, the finance minister briefed the president on the overall economic and financial outlook of the country. The finance czar also briefed the president on International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout conditions.

The meeting also discussed the imposition of Rs170 billion in additional taxes through a mini-budget today.

The president asked the finance czar to take the parliament in confidence regarding the budgetary recommendations. He asked Dar to immediately summon a parliament session to pass a bill at the earliest.

The incumbent government accelerated implementing ‘tough conditions’ set by International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revive $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) stalled for months.