The budget for the next fiscal year (FY24) was approved by the National Assembly (NA) on Sunday, a day after the government aligned it with the demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by introducing a number of changes.

The FY24 budget was passed during a session of the national assembly that lacked quorum, with only 70 lawmakers on the treasury benches and two on the opposition side, showing a serious lack of interest on the part of parliamentarians in the budget.

During the session, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar put a strong defense for the measures taken by the government to implement reforms in the pensions scheme.

The finance minister said that 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. “It is a matter of principle that you have the right to one pension,” he added.

The finance minister highlighted that the government’s pension bill has hit a staggering Rs. 800 billion. Dar said that this figure used to be around Rs. 400 billion a few years ago and pensions related reforms were need of the time.

The decision to introduce rather drastic amendments to the budget came after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of the Global Financing Summit in Paris recently.

With the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreed in 2019 set to expire in 5 days on June 30, Pakistan is in a race against time to agree to the lender’s conditions to secure the staff-level agreement.

Under the facility’s ninth review, Pakistan has been trying to secure $1.1 billion of funding stalled since November. Since mid-February, the government has time and again said that it is close to securing the staff-level agreement despite the passage of four months, the agreement with IMF remains elusive with the government’s desperation increasing by each passing day.

Source: Pro Pakistani