Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday underscored the need for the upcoming budget to help in creating job opportunities for the youth of erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), who “have made sacrifices for Pakistan”.
He said this while chairing a meeting, with Adviser on Finance Hafeez Shaikh, Adviser on Trade and Commerce Abdul Razzaq Dawood and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Shabbar Zaidi in attendance.
Imran said the budget must be focused on development and supporting the marginalised groups. He called for an austere budget, which is set to be rolled out before parliament on June 11. His economic team presented the highlights of the budget in the meeting. It is believed that various recommendations pertaining to government workers and citizens were mulled over in the meeting. The federal cabinet would approve the budget for fiscal year 2019-20 on Tuesday. The meeting also reviewed strategy to counter possible protests by the opposition during the budget session. Discussions were held on the government’s strategy against unrest and mess at parliament at the hands of the opposition.
Meanwhile, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said uplift of downtrodden segments of the society was top priority of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in its first federal budget, to be presented on June 11.
Addressing a news conference along with SAPM on Accountability Shehzad Akbar, she said the budget would be austerity-oriented and public-friendly in which efforts would be made to put minimum burden on the common man.
She said it would be incumbent government’s first budget that had been prepared by engaging an economic team and keeping in view national requirements, adding the country needed a sustainable economy that would take care of everybody.
Dr Firdous rejected media reports about the upcoming budget, terming them misleading and contrary to facts.
She said the prime minister had time and again assessed and evaluated the budget documents and gave topmost priority to ensuring wellbeing of weaker sections of society. In this regard, she said, the PM was likely to share the government priorities with nation and media soon.
The SAPM said this budget would be PTI government’s long-term roadmap and way forward to achieve next five-year targets, which would also be reflective of its manifesto.
Dr Firdous said the country was passing through a difficult economic situation and facing a number of challenges on the financial front, adding all government departments, ministries and divisions should curtail their unnecessary expenditures.
Accordingly, she said, the country’s armed forces had set a trend by deciding that its officers would not get annual increase in salaries and other perks; rather the amount would be spent for development of recently merged tribal areas and backward areas of Balochistan. However, she said the budgetary benefits would be transferred to up to Grade-16 staff and personnel.
She said the government and the prime minister were not oblivious to the defence needs of the armed forces.
She said the prime minister had recently passed necessary directives to the governor and chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that the amount saved from the armed forces’ ‘voluntary budget freeze’ should be spent on uplift of the merged tribal areas. She said the amount would also be spent to provide quality education, better health facilities, improved infrastructure and overall capacity building of institutions in backward areas of Balochistan. Dr Firdous said the prime minister also directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to make the peace-loving and patriotic tribesmen part of national development, as they rendered sacrifices for restoration of peace and stood with the armed forces in troubled areas. She warned that those who were hatching conspiracies and disrupting peace would not be spared.
