He said nation would soon hear good news once a response comes from the International Monetary Fund       Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is addressing the nation on June 15, 2024. — PID

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that aligning the budget with IMF requirements is crucial at this juncture.

He said the nation would soon hear good news once a response comes from the International Monetary Fund.

“I will not make any premature statements but hope for good news from the IMF,” he said.

The prime minister while addressing the National Assembly on Tuesday said that the PMLN government had allocated 10 percent more budget and job quota to South Punjab compared to its share based on population. Responding to points raised by the opposition benches in the National Assembly, the prime minister said 10 percent more laptops were given to the students of South Punjab, and a similar percentage was allocated to the Chief Minister Punjab Rozgar Scheme compared to the rest of Punjab. Similarly, the stipend for girl students in South Punjab was increased from Rs200 to Rs1,000.

Regarding infrastructure projects, the prime minister said the previous Punjab government, led by him, had constructed roads that were supposed to be completed by the federal government.

Concerning austerity measures, Shehbaz Sharif said he has already abolished the Pakistan Public Works Department. He added that a committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb regarding the downsising and rightsising of various departments. The tangible findings of the committee would be presented before the house.

Earlier, SIC member Zain Qureshi called for the division of Punjab province on an administrative basis and also criticised the government for doing away with South Punjab’s secretariat. He said the present government had rolled back all the measures taken by the PTI government for the uplift of the South Punjab region. During the discussion on charged expenditures, Aliya Kamran of the JUIF and Zain Qureshi, and Ali Afzal Sahi of the SIC raised objections to expenditures of over Rs9.7 billion on the Election Commission of Pakistan, given its performance.

Zain Qureshi said that Rs9.75 billion had been allocated in charged expenditures for the Election Commission of Pakistan, but the general elections were reduced to a joke. He said that because of the regime change operation, the PDM-1 and PDM-2 governments, the 6.2 percent growth is projected to be 2.4 percent this year, which was negative last year.

“Our economy has been squeezed due to measures taken by the incumbent government,” he said. Ali Afzal Sahi supported an earlier point raised by Shazia Marri about charged expenditures of over Rs7 billion for the National Assembly of Pakistan. He mentioned that the expenditures of the President’s House have been increased by Rs1.12 billion to Rs2.28 billion.

During the discussion on charged expenditures, ex-speaker and PTI-backed member Asad Qaiser and PPP parliamentarian Shazia Marri engaged in a verbal clash. The PPP member said the PTI leaders were presenting their top leader as a champion of Palestine, whereas he supported a Jew against a Muslim, namely Sadiq Khan, who is also of Pakistani origin, in the elections for London Mayor. The SIC leader immediately challenged Shazia Marri’s claims, saying that she was speaking against the facts.

Arshad Sahi and Raza Ali Shah of the SIC were of the view that the house had not been able to properly highlight the issue of the plight of the people of Palestine during the ongoing session.

Raza Ali Shah regretted that some members of the house from the government benches were politicising the Palestine issue.

The SIC parliamentary leader, Ms. Zartaj Gul, strongly objected to the heavily charged expenditures for foreign missions. “Is this the performance of foreign missions that the UAE government banned issuance to residents of 24 districts of Pakistan?” She also questioned how much investment Pakistan’s foreign missions have attracted to their country.

Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that the country witnessed the lowest remittances, the lowest economic growth, the highest dollar exchange rate, the highest inflation rate, the highest number of people leaving the country, and the highest percentage of unemployment.

He said that the approval of CCI during the tenure of the interim government to privatise PIA was unconstitutional as per the Supreme Court’s decision. He said the government was getting ready to hand over PIA to unknown parties instead of leading airlines, as the government had claimed before. “The finance minister should also explain the issue of carrying forward losses from PIA,” he said. He questioned how the budget could be balanced when the government approved only eleven out of 102 recommended development projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The National Assembly discussed charged expenditures, included in demands for grants and appropriations, about various ministries and their attached departments, for the next fiscal year.

The finance minister announced honoraria equivalent to three months’ basic pay for various departments, including the staff of the National Assembly, Senate, PID, Radio Pakistan, PTV, and APP, who performed duties in the Parliament House during the budget session.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while taking the federal cabinet into confidence on Azm-e-Istehkam Operation, maintained that it is a multi-domain, multi-agency, and whole-of-system national vision aimed at eliminating the nebulous and shadowy presence of remnants of terrorists, and violent extremism. The cabinet approved the operation.

At the cabinet meeting on Azm-e-Istehkam, the prime minister said that instead of any large-scale operation, the already ongoing intelligence-based kinetic operations would be energised.

On economic issues, the prime minister said the government was planning to put the national economy on a positive trajectory and expressed satisfaction with the country’s heading towards economic stability. He said the government would make efforts to bridle inflation.

On the annual budget 2024-25, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif instructed the members to ensure their presence in the ongoing budget debate in the parliament.

The prime minister said that no additional duty would be imposed on solar panels to ensure the accessibility of low-cost solar energy to every citizen. He also expressed his resolve to boost the country’s exports by promoting small and medium enterprises and withdrawing privileges from the elite class and those exploiting national resources. He said the economic protection of the common man and providing them equal opportunities were among the government’s priorities.

The cabinet meeting was briefed that the privatisation of the PIA was moving ahead swiftly as companies showing interest in the pre-bidding process were visiting different PIA sites. The bidding for the PIA will be held in the first week of August, it was told. The prime minister directed accelerating PIA privatisation while ensuring transparency in the process.

On the recommendation of the Ministry of Commerce and a request from the World Food Programme of Afghanistan, the federal cabinet approved the transit of a truck from Karachi to Kabul carrying the spare parts of the trucks, just on humanitarian grounds.

The cabinet meeting gave the go-ahead to signing an MoU between the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Pakistan and that of Saudi Arabia. It also extended until March 2025 the timeframe of an implementation committee on the immovable property of the late Ameer of Bahawalpur, in light of the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s ruling and recommendation of the States and Frontier Regions Division.

The federal cabinet also approved the appointment of the executive director of the Frequency Allocation Board. During the briefing on the Economic Coordination Committee’s decision, the cabinet meeting was told that the country had a sufficient stock of sugar available and the Sugar Advisory Board and relevant departments had approved exporting the leftover stock of sugar after taking into account the expected consumption before the next crushing season and assessing the surplus stock.

PM Shehbaz said the government would not tolerate any increase in the sugar price and instructed the formation of a committee to monitor the sugar price and stop its export in case of any possibility of a price hike.