Budget likely in first week of June: Nizami

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Arif Nizami on Monday said the new government is likely to announce budget for the next financial year in first week of June. "The expected finance minister in the new government Senator Ishaq Dar is busy in preparing budgetary proposals these days and the new government is likely to announce the budget in the first week of next month," Nizami said while talking to media after addressing a seminar "Creating Joint Social Media Policy for all Government Departments," organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Global Strategies.
To a question about the increasing load-shedding in the country, he said apart from gap in supply and demand‚ the delay in release of funds by the finance ministry to ensure uninterrupted supply of fuel to power plants is also a factor. He said that Khawaja Muhammad Asif‚ the expected federal minister for water and power in the new government and a team of experts are preparing plans to overcome power shortage. To another question regarding postings and transfers‚ he said before elections the caretaker government was doing transfers and postings in consultation with Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), but after elections there was no room for transfer and postings. He‚ however‚ said he would not comment on the issue as the matter is sub judice.
Replying to a question about the statement of Altaf Hussain from London‚ he said he personally believes that notice should be taken against the statement by the government. He said other stakeholders including PTI Chairman Imran Khan have also expressed their reservations about Altaf''s statement. He‚ however, said the caretaker government is impartial.
Earlier‚ addressing the seminar, he said there was an urgent need to benefit from the latest technology to put the country on the path of development. Social media could be utilised to resolve the problems being faced by the health and education sectors, he said. Print and electronic media still had more credibility than the social media, he added.