Ahmed Mukhtar Naqshbandi
ISLAMABAD: A session of the National Assembly to discuss the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2023, commonly referred to as the mini-budget, was adjourned on Friday without a vote on the critical tax amendments required to revive a stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme and avert the looming threat of default.
Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf chaired the session, during which parliamentarians criticised the government for increasing the burden on the poor by hiking taxes.
The bill was presented by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in both houses of parliament on Wednesday as the government rushed to meet the IMF’s conditions for the release of a desperately required bailout.
The NA session will now resume on Monday at 5pm.
Stalled talks with IMF
The government and the IMF could not reach a deal last week and a visiting delegation of the global fund departed Islamabad after 10 days of talks, but said talks would continue.
The global lender had demanded to raise an additional Rs170 billion in tax revenue.
Most of the tax measures worth Rs115bn were already implemented from February 14 through Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs), with the rest of Rs55bn to be raised through measures proposed in the bill.
An agreement on the ninth review of the bailout package would release over $1.1 billion of the total $2.5 billion pending amount as part of the current programme signed in 2019 which ends on June 30.
The two sides have been holding virtual talks in order to sort out differences over the fiscal measures.
