ISLAMABAD: The government has informed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Doha of its plan to present the 2022-23 budget in the National Assembly on June 10.
Secretary Finance Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh has also informed the concerned authorities saying the prime minister has approved the budget schedule.
Mr Sheikh also asked Secretary Cabinet Division that “a special budget meeting of the federal cabinet may kindly be convened for the consideration of the budgetary proposals”.
Quoting sources Dawn.com reported today that the government would be convening key meetings relating to the federal budget, starting with the Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC) in the first week of June to finalise about Rs700bn worth of development programme excluding allocations for provincial projects under 16 devolved ministries.
The meeting of the National Economic Council is being contemplated for June 7, followed by a special cabinet meeting on the budget on June 10.
Sources said the talks with the IMF mission in Doha had discussed the fiscal framework for the next year based on which the next year’s federal development programme could not afford more than Rs700bn, otherwise the burden of taxation would have to be increased.
The sources said the finance secretary had joined the IMF talks and had conveyed the government’s commitment to gradually eliminating fuel and electricity subsidies within a period of 45 days to two months to avoid a sudden shock to the people.
This would, however, be done under an agreed subsidy reduction plan. Finance Minister Miftah Ismail and Minister of State for Finance Dr Aisha Ghaus-Pasha would be joining the talks on Monday.
These sources said the first part of the subsidy reduction plan would come into force by next Monday next, particularly ahead of the conclusion of policy-level talks with the IMF on Wednesday.
These sources said the current fiscal year was being considered as a bygone conclusion with a record fiscal deficit in which the current government wanted to park the cost of all decisions of the previous government into the current year. However, the IMF wanted the measures relating to subsidy reduction to be in place before concluding the ongoing talks on a positive note.
The sources said the authorities have also shared a tentative plan for divesting shares and privatising public sector entities, particularly the energy sector companies, to reduce the federal budget’s continuous burden and use their proceeds to finance the fiscal deficit.
The schedule would be finalised in consultation with the IMF and the World Bank and made part of the agreement as structural benchmarks.
