Budget discussions: PM Nawaz kept key bodies ‘out of the loop’

Proposed FED on internet usage might decrease use of social media.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his team have sidelined the Federal Cabinet, National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance, ruling party’s lawmakers and allied parties from consultations on the budget for fiscal 2015-16, The Express Tribune has learnt.

A source claimed that the PM’s son-in-law Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar had put together the Public Sector Development Programme for the upcoming fiscal year. “Even Planning & Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal was kept out of the loop.”

Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Tariq Bajwa, a close friend of the Sharif family, and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar have prepared the budget with the aid of other close friends, said the source.

The Federal Cabinet is scheduled to meet this Friday (June 5) to approve the budget in the form of Finance Bill 2016, according to Federal Cabinet Secretary Raja Hassan Abbas.

On May 26 the Federal Cabinet, with Premier Nawaz in chair, had approved the budget strategy paper.

Abbas said the final meeting would be convened in the morning of June 5 and the budget would be presented in the joint session of Parliament that evening. The FBR has translated the revenue side of the budget strategy and almost finalised the budget speech that the finance minister would present on Friday.

Parliamentary Secretary on Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan said that for the past five months, the government had been engaged in budget discussions with all the stakeholders. “The finance minister had also held a separate consultative meeting.”

Asked who attended this meeting, Khan refused to disclose their names. He only said that all the participants were picked by the minister himself.

Phone, internet usage

Sources claimed that the FBR has suggested a substantial increase in the general sales tax (GST) on imported mobile phones. “The proposal to impose 18.5% federal excise duty (FED) on internet usage was not discussed with anyone.”

They said that increasing GST on imported mobile phones would encourage smuggling of phones and cause an increase in the use of China-made devices.

Many youngsters across the country use imported mobile phones for using the social media.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2015.