The objections raised by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) regarding the federal budget “are 100 per cent correct,” Rana Sanaullah, the prime minister’s adviser on political and public affairs, said on Monday.
“It is not true that there was no consultation with the PPP during the budget formulation process,” he said while addressing a press conference in Faisalabad. “The budget is not a final figure. There can be debate and discussion on it.”
Moments before the federal government was about to present the budget on June 12, the Sindh-ruling party refused to attend the National Assembly session. Their parliamentary party leaders claimed that they were not consulted before the outlay of the fiscal year.
The party attended the session after Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar pacified the government’s allies.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presented a worth Rs18.87 trillion deficit budget amid noise from the opposition. The federal government imposed additional taxes on the salaried class despite vowing to tax the elite class.
According to media reports, the PPP expressed reservations over the federal budget and Punjab’s controversial defamation law.
Sanaullah acknowledged that if there was any lack of consultation, the concerns of the PPP would be taken into consideration during the budget debate.
He went on to add that Parliament would pass the budget before June 30—a deadline needed to meet to get the International Monetary Fund loan. Pakistan is expected to get $6 to $8 billion under the Extended Fund Facility, according to a United States bank.
The PM’s adviser claimed that the government would cut its expenses and expressed hope that the country would come out of the economic crisis this year.
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At one point, he said that JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman was a democratic leader and his meetings with the PTI leadership were a separate matter.
While speaking about the ‘Dubai Leaks’, the PML-N leader Sanaullah said that they have not been suppressed. He stated that the government cannot stop anyone from making investments abroad, but a legitimate procedure should be followed.
He claimed that the “Dubai Leaks did not uncover any evidence of money laundering, and the Panama Leaks also did not contain any substantive information,” with the Sharif family being unfairly targeted.
