Islamabad: Minister for Finance and Revenue Ishaq Dar reiterated that staff-level agreement with International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be inked soon. While presenting Money Bill 2023 in National Assembly, he said that government’s first priority was to avert default. “We have been successful to avert it, and now the next step is to establish pathway to prosperity and to provide relief to public.

“However, certain elements remain busy causing hurdles in path of country’s economic growth,” he said while slamming Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. “They (PTI) wish that IMF deal is not reached and Pakistan gets bankrupted,” he said.

Dar added that PTI spread disinformation regarding cancellation of his US visit. Money bill tabled

Charged Sums for General Elections of Provincial Assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bill 2023 seeks release of funds to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for holding elections in Punjab as ordered by Supreme Court (SC). Apex court has directed government to hold Punjab polls on May 14.

SC also asked government to arrange funds for elections by April 10.

Bill presented states that required funds for elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa shall be “Expenditure charged upon Federal Consolidated Fund, which comprises all revenues received by government, all loans raised by that government and all money received by it in repayment of any loan.”

Bill stated that it shall “Override other laws” and have effect “Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law, rules and regulations” when it was in force.

Dar said the national and provincial elections should be held at same time, under caretaker setup. “This will help in reducing expenditure,” he said.

“Current security, economic and internal situation in the country is not cohesive for early elections and is not in the national interest,” he added. While presenting bill, he said that it is now responsibility of Parliament to decide whether funds to ECP should be released or not.

Published in The Daily National Courier, April, 11 2023

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