Opposition lambasts govt over plan to table mini-budget in National Assembly

The opposition on Wednesday took the government to task over its plan to table the supplementary finance bill [mini-budget] in the National Assembly. A day earlier, the federal cabinet had deferred the approval of the supplementary finance bill which was scheduled to be tabled in today’s session. Speaking on a point of order, PPP MNA Raja Pervez Ashraf said that everyone in the House as well as people from different walks of life were concerned over reports that the government was planning to introduce a money bill or a mini-budget. “Inflation, unemployment and the shortage of gas and other commodities have already wreaked havoc on the people of the country. Now, if a mini-budget or money bill is in the offing, which would increase their difficulties, then everyone sitting in the House should resist the move,” he said. Taking the floor, PML-N’s Khawaja Asif said that the country saw a “territorial surrender” on Dec 16, 1971 which it eventually recovered from.“The country has come out of that disaster. [But] now we are going to surrender our economic sovereignty through the finance bill and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Amendment Bill 2021 which is much worse than what happened in 1971.”

The PML-N leader claimed that the state bank had become a “local branch” of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He said that the SBP governor was disguised as a “viceroy”, adding that Pakistan had become a “financial colony” of international institutions.He vowed to oppose the SBP bill and the mini-budget, adding that there was a need to create a national consensus on both the issues. “Create national consensus on how we can get out of these issues. Things can’t go on like this.”