Senate approves recommendations on ‘mini-budget’

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Tuesday approved the recommendations on the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021, which the Opposition calls a “mini-budget”.

Presenting the final report related to the bill, Standing Committee on Finance Chairman Senator Muhammad Talha Mahmood highlighted that the Opposition did not raise any objections to the bill.

It is pertinent to mention here that Federal Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin presented the supplementary finance bill in the National Assembly last month, as a pre-requisite to resuming the $6 billion External Fund Facility (EFF) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Terming the “mini-budget” an “IMF budget”, Mahmood said that the supplementary finance bill will bring a tsunami of inflation in the country.

He added that this is not just an Rs343 billion budget it is far more than that, adding that the finance bill will have a “negative impact on the common man.”

He was of the view that the government calls those a thief “whose money is used to run this country and the Parliament.”

Condemning the oppression of businessmen, he said that the government is “debasing the dignity of businessmen. It wants to loot them by raiding their lockers.”

Shedding light on the issues that the common man will face after the approval of the bill, he said that the price of medicines will increase along with the rates of other consumer goods.

“They have even proposed an increase in the taxes on milk, bread, yoghurt, etc,” he said.

Underlining the government’s plan to promote digitalisation in the country, he questioned: “how can people make digital payments when they [government] are increasing the prices of computers and laptops?”

“In order to win the economic war, the government should have businessmen on board as they are not thieves,” he suggested.

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