Opposing parties have flayed Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for giving conflicting figures of Public Sector Development programme (PSDP) spending to the Parliament and International Monetary Fund and maintained that their parties would raise the issue in the National Assembly because the minister committed a breach of the Parliament's privilege.
"We will raise this issue in the National Assembly's upcoming session and would seek an explanation from the government as to why the Finance Ministry gave one figure of the PSDP spending to the Parliament (on June 3) and another to the IMF during the eleventh review (2 to 11 May) of Extended Fund Facility," stated a Senator of opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
Finance Ministry submitted its budget document to the IMF, cited as a prior condition in the eleventh review, in which it projected the consolidated PSDP spending at Rs 1040 billion for 2015-16 while three weeks later it provided the estimated figure of Rs 1513 billion to Parliament. Parliament was also informed during the budget speech that the total size of PSDP for 2016-17 would be Rs 1,675 billion with Rs 875 billion allocated for provincial spending and Rs 800 billion for federal PSDP. The IMF was provided a much lower earmarked figure of total PSDP spending of Rs 1213 billion, reflecting a difference of a whopping Rs 444 billion between the figure given to Parliament and IMF for the ongoing fiscal year.
Senator Taj Haider of PPP stated that this was a breach of Parliament and demonstrates how Finance Ministry has been involved in 'figure fudging' and kept parliament in the dark. "It would be appropriate to state that the government tried to deceive parliament," he said, adding "this is something very serious and cannot be overlooked." "We demand the Finance Minister and government give us details of PSDP spending. We have also been asking for audit of Rs 480 billion paid on account of circular debt soon after coming to power," he further stated.
MQM Senator Tahir Hussain Mashhadi stated that his party would certainly raise the issue in both the Houses of Parliament and hold the government accountable. He said the opposition can even move "a no-confidence motion" against the Finance Minister on the issue if it considers it appropriate. He said the government presents an ambitious PSDP plan in the parliament to woo public support, but later revises it downward. "We will definitely raise this issue in the Senate and National Assembly and hold the government accountable for presenting false figures," he said.
When contacted PTI spokesman Inamul Haq stated that the present government is a master of figure fudging and added that a member national Assembly has already been tasked to raise the issue of how the tax collection target was achieved in the National Assembly's session on August 8. He said the issue of false or contradictory figures of PSDP to the IMF and Parliament would also be taken up to expose yet another cheating on the part of the government.