ISLAMABAD: As the federal government is set to present the budget for fiscal year 2024-25, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday sought the support of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in passing the budget as the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has vowed to hold a strong protest if common man was not given relief in the forthcoming budget.
The meeting, attended by PPP’s Raja Pervez Ashraf, Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah, Senator Sherry Rehman and Naveed Qamar along with Deputy PM Ishaq Dar, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Adviser to PM on Political and Public Affairs Rana Sanaullah, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and Information Minister Ataullah Tarar also mulled over the prevailing political situation in the country.
The high-level huddle comes as the PM Shehbaz-led Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government will need the PPP’s support to pass the budget as it lacks the required numbers in the National Assembly to do so on its own.
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Sources privy to the meeting told Business Recorder that the PPP delegation proposed to the prime minister to increase the salaries of government employees and pensioners – at least – by 20-25 percent.
However, the prime minister sought time from the PPP to discuss the proposal with his cabinet members given the fragile economic situation of the country.
The prime minister, according to sources once again invited the PPP to join the government after the budget. The PPP delegation said that they would it with President Asif Ali Zardari and party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
Following the February 8 polls, the two parties had agreed to join hands with the PPP supporting the PML-N in the election of Shehbaz Sharif as prime minister in exchange for various constitutional posts such as Senate chairman, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab governor-ships, etc.
The passing of the FY2024-25 budget holds significance as the country, in April, made a formal request to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for seeking the next bailout package in the range of $6 to $8 billion under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
An IMF team, led by Nathan Porter, the IMF’s Mission Chief to Pakistan, visited Islamabad during May 13-23, 2024, to discuss the country’s plans for a home-grown economic programme that can be supported under the EFF.
The visiting IMF team had secured relevant data of all major economic fronts and informed the relevant authorities what kind of budget the IMF staff would like to see in 2024-25.
In such circumstances, the forthcoming budget for 2024-25 will become a test case for the incumbent regime to demonstrate its ability to deliver on the IMF’s stringent conditions.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024