ISLAMABAD:The Senate on Tuesday continued discussion on the federal budget for the year 2023-24. Participating in the debate, Jam Mahtab Hussain Dahar was appreciative of the government for extending incentives to important sectors such as the IT to promote exports. Humayun Mohmand said all sectors of the economy have witnessed a decline over the last one year. He stressed the need to enforce a track and trace system to increase tax net and check tax evasion. He said we will have to go for restructuring of the country’s debt, renegotiate agreements with the Independent Power Producers as well as land reforms.

In his remarks, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani called for agreeing on a charter of democracy by all the political forces to revamp the economy, curb unemployment, inflation and poverty. He appreciated the raise in pensions of the government employees. He said more funds should be diverted to south Punjab and other less developed areas to ensure regional balance in the country. Terming the budgetary allocations as unrealistic, Mohsin Aziz said all the targets set in the finance bill seemed to be unachievable. He said debt servicing liabilities are increasing and the government should revise the budget as per ground realities to steer the country out of the economic crisis. He proposed to broaden the tax base, curtail government expenditures and incentivize remittances.

Irfan-ul-Haque Siddiqui commended the coalition government for presenting a balanced budget in view of the difficult economic situation it inherited from the PTI regime. He said a conducive and enabling environment is a prerequisite for bringing economic stability to the country. He said the previous government of PTI took massive loans in four years, equal to the amount Pakistan had borrowed in 70 years. He said one billion rupees have been allocated in the Budget to provide health insurance to the working journalists.