Finance body says it has been discussing trivial issues

Members of National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance have strongly criticised the working of the committee and stated that it has been discussing trivial issues when important developments have been taking place on the economic front which may have grave consequences on budgetary projections.
As soon as the committee commenced its proceedings with a briefing on House Building Finance Corporation and to discuss public opinion about privatisation process of national institutions, Nafeesa Shah sought a point of order and stated that role of the committee should not be subservient to the government. She added that most important issues for the committee should have been a discussion on the increase in General Sale Tax (GST) on petroleum products as well as the impact of a decline in the international oil price on revenue and other economic indicators. Nafeesa Shah said that Finance Ministry should also give a briefing to the Finance Committee on performance in terms of budgetary targets.
She urged the Chairman of the Committee to set the agenda for taking up these important issues with the objective of suggesting policy input to the government. She further stated that role of the committee must be of an independent body that the discusses the issues of greater public importance, which it has not been doing so far.
Nafeesa Shah's point of view was supported by ruling party's Pervez Malik and Qaisar Ahmed Sheikh that there is need to prioritise the agenda of the committee meeting to discuss current state of country's macroeconomic indicators and how international events have impacted on them. The meeting was informed that a sub-committee under the chairmanship of Qaisar Sheikh was constituted to uncover the reasons for the losses suffered by National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) during Bangladesh operation. Chairman of the Committee remarked that sub-committee has to decide after through examination of the record and recommend whether the case of the NBP Bangladesh operation is fit for National Accountability Bureau (NAB) or Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).