Presentation of the federal budget for fiscal year 2018-19 hangs in balance after the opposition parties conveyed to the government that either it should not present the budget or get authorization of the only four-month budget from the Parliament. This implies whatever party comes in power after the general elections, it will have the choice to present a new budget or make amendments in the existing one.
The government wants to pass the budget for the entire fiscal year while the opposition parties are ready to lend conditional support to the budget if the government agrees to its authorization from the Parliament only for four months. The government through Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq reached out to parliamentary leaders and their representatives on Thursday to seek their support for the budget.
The speaker also sought proposals from the participants related to the budget that the government is planning to announce on April 27. Jamaat-e-Islami member Sahibzada Tariq Ullah who was one of the participants of the meeting told Business Recorder that all the opposition parties' representatives had rejected the government's plan of announcement of the budget for the whole fiscal year.
He said the representatives of Pakistan Peoples Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf warned the government of protests inside and outside the Parliament if budget for the whole fiscal year is presented in the National Assembly for passage.
Tariq Ullah saidthe opposition parties' representatives, however, expressed their willingness to support the budget if the government agrees to get authorization from the Parliament only for four months.
The opposition parties have clearly told the government during the meeting that it is the right of the next government after the elections to present budget for the fiscal year 2018-19.
The meeting was attended, among others, by Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Sahibzada Tariqullah, Shirin Mazari, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Syed Naveed Qamar, Sheikh Salahuddin, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Haroon Akhtar, Advisor to Prime Minister Miftah Ismail, Minister of State for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal, Secretary Finance and Chairman FBR. Sahibzada Tariqullah said the opposition parties would be left with no choice but to stage protest and boycott the budget proceedings if the government goes ahead with its plans of announcing the budget.
He said the government's representatives listened to the suggestions and opinions of the opposition parties' representatives and promised to hold one more meeting in next couple of days to make a final decision on the issue. Sources in the ruling party told Business Recorder that the government is also concerned that it may not get the federal budget passed from the National Assembly without support of the opposition due to its deteriorating numerical strength.
They also said the opposition parties have come up with a stiff stance against the budget after announcement of the tax amnesty scheme. The opposition parties fear the government may try to appease voters in the budget through lucrative schemes like income tax reduction through the amnesty scheme and this would be a pre-poll rigging.