With the budget date scheduled for 12 June drawing near the government is facing the challenge of preparing a 'corona budget' amidst uncertainty as to who would present it in Parliament.
Work has been in progress on the budget for next fiscal year and prime minister has also been conveyed about the budget date.
Sources on condition of anonymity said it remains unclear so far as to who would present the budget for next fiscal year. Last year's budget was presented by the then State Minister for Revenue, Hammad Azhar, in place of Dr Hafeez Shaikh.
Although 'Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly' allows advisor to prime minister on finance with the status of federal minister to present the budget, for this he would be required to first take oath as a federal minister. Miftah Ismail, the then advisor to the prime minister on finance, was administered oath as the finance minister a few hours before he presented the last budget of the PML-N administration.
According to 'Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly', the budget shall be presented by the Minister for Finance or, in his absence, any other Minister authorized by the leader of the House, hereafter in this chapter referred to as the Minister-in-Charge'.
Dr Hafeez Shaikh has been conspicuously absent from prime minister's briefings since the economic stimulus package for corona affected sectors was announced. An official of Prime Minister's Office stated that the Advisor has been in touch with the prime minister on economic matters including those on disbursements under the stimulus package and the budget for the next fiscal year.
Sources said that budget-making process is in progress with meetings taking place on a daily basis with the focus on how to curtail current expenditure to create fiscal space to fund 'corona expenditure' and raise revenue. Sources added that one proposal being discussed is that no new recruitments against the vacant posts of around 70,000 would be made at least for the next fiscal year. All federal ministries and divisions have been directed to slash expenditure. The strategy discussed during a meeting chaired by Dr Hafeez Sheikh last week focussed on an expenditure squeeze, through rationalizing all items of current expenditure including running of civil government, interest payments, subsidies and other related expenditures to create adequate fiscal space for corona-related expenditure.
A meeting of Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC) is expected to be held on Wednesday with Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Asad Umar in the chair to discuss and propose development outlay, estimate macroeconomic indicators for next fiscal year and review and if necessary revise estimates of macroeconomic indicators for the outgoing fiscal year. The meeting would be attended by the planning and development and finance ministers of the provinces, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. The APCC would be followed by the meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) to be presided over by the Prime Minister and attended by Chief Ministers and Finance Ministers of provinces, Prime Minister of AJK, Chief Minister Gilgit Baltistan to consider the proposed development outlay and macroeconomic indicators for current as well as next fiscal year.
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