Crucial session of NA underway to pass mini-budget

PM Imran holds meeting of allied parties before the session

The government and the opposition will be at loggerheads today as the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) will try to bulldoze its Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 through the National Assembly to ensure its sixth review of the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) gets cleared by the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) executive board, paving the way for the disbursement of about $1bn tranche.

Prior to the commencement of the crucial NA session, Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived at the Parliament and held a meeting of the parliamentary groups of parties included in the ruling alliance led by the PTI to supercharge the efforts to counter the opposition’s resistance and steer the bill into law.

Reportedly, there was a heated exchange between Defence Minister Pervez Khattak and Energy Minister Hammad Azhar over the lack of natural gas supply to K-P.

Khattak expressed his displeasure over the current situation and reportedly later left the meeting. He, however, later came back to the meeting and said he had stepped outside to "smoke a cigarette".

The opposition is also holding a protest outside the Parliament, led by opposition leader and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif.

Read: Bilawal blasts govt over mini-budget, says it is 'confused' over economy

Addressing party supporters, Shehbaz said the opposition has "rejected the mini-budget" as it would further burden the common man under a slew of new taxes and would increase inflationary pressure.

On the other hand, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the mini-budget will bring betterment to the country's economy.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari censured the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government on Wednesday over the mini-budget that proposed ending tax exemptions on various goods to generate over Rs350 billion in taxes.

Delivering a fierce speech during a session of the National Assembly, the PPP leader said the mini-budget was proof that the government was handicapped by confusion to handle the economic affairs of the country. “We had forewarned from the very first day that economic confusion was akin to the death of economy,” he said.

Bilawal went on to blame the Imran Khan-led government for pressing on the contentious bill due to an “egotistical” attitude which, he said, would come at the cost of the common man’s well-being. "But because of your stubbornness and ego, you took decisions that are a robbery of the common man's pockets.”

The PTI government created hardships for people by initially saying that it wouldn’t go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Bilawal said, adding that when they were forced to seek IMF’s help they struck a poor deal. “We said it then that the ‘PTI-IMF’ budget would create difficulties for the poor segments of the society,” he added.