Aurangzeb stresses fiscal discipline, cut in borrowing

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said in the Senate on Monday that “we will not be able to move forward until the confidence of people [in the government] is restored. The private sector has to move forward and lead the country”.

Responding to various points, raised by lawmakers on the private members day and winding up the debate on the FBR digitalization, he emphasised that remittances and exports were all-time high in the country, as the trend continued in July and August, while the currency was stable and foreign exchange was available for two-month import cover.

He also noted that inflation had already come down to single digit, adding that all these elements were necessary for taking growth forward. The minister agreed to senators that the government had to show fiscal discipline, bring down borrowing, which paves the way for revenue increase and this would increase the capacity to help in enhance lending the private sector.

The minister said “if we bring institutional reforms, it will be the last program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)”. He underlined the need for enhancing lending to agriculture, IT sector, SMEs and banking sector.

The PM, he noted, had already said that the government had no business to be in business, adding the lending had increased in the private sector, which had to move forward to lead the country.

“We cannot move forward unless we bring trust; we are accountable to 24 crore people, but we cannot say that we will not pay tax because we do not have faith in the tax authority,” he said.

The minister promised to brief the House soon on the overall economy and the overall development plan. Earlier, Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri introduced a Bill further to amend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Amendment to Article 62 of the Constitution).

The chair referred it to the House standing committee concerned for deliberations and report. The bill seeks to amend Article 62 of the Constitution. According to the amendment bill, the educational qualification of the President and the Prime Minister should be at least graduation.

Similarly, the governor, chief minister, chairman, deputy chairman of the Senate, speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly must also be graduates. Moreover, federal ministers and state ministers and provincial ministers should also be graduates. According to the proposed constitutional amendment bill, the person selected for these positions should have bachelor’s degree or equivalent to it.