The National Assembly session was adjourned on Friday without voting on the finance bill after a brief debate on the budget proposals.
“The NA session has been adjourned to meet again on Monday, the 20th February, 2023 at 5:00 pm,” it was announced on the official Twitter handle of the lower house.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar tabled the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2023 in both houses on Wednesday in a bid to generate Rs170 billion in revenue.
Dar, while speaking to reporters after the session, said that he expects the bill to be passed in both houses by Monday or Tuesday as Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani has “given us till Friday”.
Pakistan is in dire need of funds as it battles a wrenching economic crisis as the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)-held foreign exchange reserves barely cover one month of imports.
While participating in the budget debate today, Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) lawmaker Qadir Khan Mandokhail urged the government to lessen the burden on the poor, saying that they should be taken care of.
Talking about the money bill, Mandokhail questioned the finance minister about whether taxes have been imposed on luxury bungalows. He said that social media apps WhatsApp and Twitter should also be taxed.
The PPP leader said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) tried sabotaging the IMF agreement, adding that Shaukat Tarin, Mohsin Leghari and Taimur Jhagra’s audios have exposed this.
Meanwhile, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Salahuddin criticised the finance minister for being non-serious while presenting the mini-budget. “The level of seriousness was that he [Dar] left soon after presenting the bill,” he said.
“We are here with the government just because we don’t want the country to default,” he said, adding that they were here with the previous government as well to push the country out of the economic crisis.
