ISLAMABAD – Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Thursday presented the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 and State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 in the National Assembly amid ruckus created by the joint opposition.
As NA Speaker Asad Qaiser started proceedings of the session, the opposition members started chanting slogans against the government and also tore the copies of the agenda and surrounded his dais, claiming that the “mini budget” would put burden on inflation-hit public.
The House also adopted different resolutions extending various Ordinances for a period of 120 days. These Ordinances include; “the Federal Government Properties Management Authority Ordinance, 2021”, “the Elections (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021”, “the Public Properties (Removal of Encroachment) Ordinance, 2021”, “the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021”, “the Pakistan Food Security Flow and Information Ordinance, 2021” and “the Tax Laws (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021”.
The House adopted the resolutions with a majority vote amid uproar from the opposition benches.
PPP’s leader Syed Naveed Qamar while raising concerns over extending the expired ordinance said the move was against the rules of parliament.
Expressing his views, PML-N leader Khawaja Asif while referring to SBP bill said that the legislation will lead to compromise on country’s economic sovereignty. He said that the PTI government is handing over the central bank to IMF.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin while talking to the media after the NA session said that tax exemptions of worth Rs343 billion on various sectors will be withdrawn under the supplementary finance bill.
He also rejected the notion that the so-called mini-budget will trigger inflation in the country, saying that total Rs2 billion tax burden will be put on common people.
Besides, Tarin also said many taxes on import of machinery and pharmaceutical raw material are either “refundable or adjustable”.
