Ministry directed to expedite financial laws’ drafting

ISLAMABAD: Finance minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday said the legislative reforms are part of the government’s agenda and their timely completion must be ensured.

“The officials of the finance ministry should be in close liaison with the ministry of parliamentary affairs and secretariats of the upper and lower houses,” Dar said  at a meeting to review progress on various draft laws initiated by the ministry for enactment.  The finance secretary informed the minister that presently ten bills, related to different laws, were at different stages of drafting procedure. 

“These included Corporate Rehabilitation Bill 2017, Amendment in Bank’s (Nationalisation) Act 1974, Loans for Agricultural, Commercial  and Industrial Purposes (Amendment) Bill 2017, SBP-BSC Amendment Bill, 2017, The Auditor General’s Functions and Power and Terms and Conditions of Service (Amendment Bill), 2017,” the secretary said. 

The official said the ministry is assisting National Assembly and Senate secretariats in the processing of these legislative proposals and also working to make formulation/amendments in different rules compatible with present day requirements. 

“These included Loans for Agriculture, Commercial and Industrial Purposes Rules, 1973, Draft Investor Education and Awareness Fund Rules, 2017, and Rules under the Financial Institutions (secured transaction) Act, 2016,” the official added.

Meanwhile, Sami Saeed, executive director at Asian Development Bank (ADB) met the finance minister  and discussed matters related to the multilateral lender’s various projects and programmes in Pakistan. 

“Due to the improved credit ratings of Pakistan and the economic reforms carried out by the government during the last four years, the ADB has increased its country exposure limit for private sector operations in Pakistan from $700 million to $1.7 billion,” Saeed said. “This would make available additional resources to the private sector in Pakistan.”

Saeed added that the disbursement of the contracted sovereign credits was currently at a historical level.  Appreciating ADB’s continued support for development programmes in Pakistan, the finance minister asked the bank’s director to follow up with the ADB management and take the matters further in the light of the discussions held during the meeting.