ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Senate today passed the State Bank of Pakistan (amendment) Bill 2021 with a narrow margin as 43 voted in favour of the bill while 42 opposed it.
Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani voted in favour of of the Bill which led to majority of votes in the Senate.
When the Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Friday presented the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Amendment Bill, the opposition members raised hue and cry in the Upper House. They also threw in the air copies of the bill to show their resentment.
With the approval of the SBP (Amendment) Bill, the PTI government has completed all the upfront conditions of the IMF to qualify for the resumption of suspended loan.
Earlier, the federal government had sought time to present the SBP Amendment Bill in the Senate as a number of the treasury benches members missing from the session.
Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani said that the bill is on the agenda of the Senate, but what he can do if the government is delaying its presentation? “It is not my duty to present the bill, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin should come back in the session,” Sanjrani said.
Meanwhile, the opposition Senators stood on their seats and chanted slogans against the government and urged the treasury benches to lay the SBP Amendment Bill before the house.
Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani asked the Senators to start a discussion on President Arif Alvi’s speech to the joint sitting of the Parliament, but the lawmakers denied it. Later, Sanjrani had adjourned the important session of the Senate for 30 minutes.
However, as the session started, the chairman reprimanded the members over not wearing face masks as the cases of the coronavirus have increased again. He also ordered the administration to provide the masks to everyone to follow of Covid SOPs in the House.
