Daily Times

The National Assembly on Sunday passed the Finance Bill 2023 with certain amendments in the proposed budgetary measures and the total outlay of Rs14.48 trillion to achieve macroeconomic stability and the set target of a 3.5% gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate.

For the fiscal year starting next month, the government will raise a further Rs215 billion in new tax and cut Rs85 billion in spending, as well as a number of other measures to shrink the fiscal deficit.

The House rejected all the amendments moved by the lawmakers from the opposition benches. The Finance Bill, moved by Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, was passed with majority vote after clause-by-clause reading. The House echoed with desk thumping as the House passed the budget. The passage of the Finance Bill has successfully brought to an end the budgetary process started on June 9 with the budget speech of the finance minister at the National Assembly.

The bill now would go to the President for assent who will sign it into a law and effective from July 1, 2023.

Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf put all the amendments proposed by lawmakers Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, Saira Bano, Nisar Cheema, Zahra Wadood Fatimi, Nawab Sher Waseer, Asiya Azeem, which were with a majority vote; except for Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali’s amendment, which was included in the bill for the Assembly’s approval. Consequently, the amendment proposed by MQM member Salahuddin was also rejected by the House. In the light of the Senate recommendations, the National Assembly also approved the amendments proposed in the Finance Bill 2023-24 by the Finance Minister.

The bill, presented in the House on June 9 by the finance minister for consideration, got the approval of the National Assembly with certain changes in the figures related to revenue targets and other matters in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Accordingly, the revenue target of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had increased from Rs9.2 trillion to Rs 9.415 trillion, provincial revenue from Rs 5.276 trillion to Rs5.39 trillion, federal government expenditures from Rs 14.46 trillion to Rs 14.48 trillion, the pension volume from Rs 761 billion to Rs 801 billion, the subsidy volume would stand at Rs1.064 trillion, and the grants volume at Rs. 1.405 trillion.

As a result of all these measures, improvements would be seen in the budget’s deficit, and the fiscal deficit would decrease by Rs 300 billion. The finance minister defended the government’s decision to amend the pension rules and said: “It was a huge burden on this cash-strapped country.”

A restriction has been imposed, and now, government employees from grades 17 to 22 are eligible for only one pension, the finance minister said, noting that it would not apply to those below grade 17.

“The issue of former government employees withdrawing more than one pension is old, it had to be resolved,” Dar, who has served as the finance minister multiple times, added. “If someone has a job on a contract then he will have to choose between the two pensions. This should’ve been corrected a long time ago,” he said. “It is a matter of principle that you have the right to one pension.”

He said that when a pensioner died, their widowed spouse would receive the stipend. But once the spouse died, their dependents would get the pension for 10 years after which it will end, he said. “Our pension bill went to Rs800bn in this budget. It is a huge amount. It used to be half a few years ago,” Dar said, adding that these reforms were the need of the time. The decision to amend the budget had come after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of the Global Financing Summit in Paris.