Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, chaired the inaugural meeting of the 10th National Finance Commission (NFC) today at
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has flouted Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh’s orders to clear up to Rs50 million worth of income tax refunds in seven days, as over 114,000 claims of Rs82 billion are still pending.
ALL major parties including the PTI, PML-N and PPP have announced their candidates for the Senate elections scheduled for March 3. Many of the names in the final list are expected ones. The PTI has nominated finance adviser Hafeez Sheikh because he needs to be elected in order to run the ministry with full powers and also preside over the National Finance Commission. Dr Sania Nishtar’s nomination was also to be expected. Prime Minister Imran Khan has praised her work as head of the government’s flagship Ehsaas programme. The PML-N has fielded senior people like Pervaiz Rashid and Mushahidullah Khan though the party’s chairman Raja Zafarul Haq will be retiring and not returning to the upper house. The PPP has also chosen to give tickets to key members like Sherry Rehman and Farhatullah Babar. Prominent among those from the PTI who have not got a Senate ticket are parliamentary affairs’ adviser Babar Awan, commerce adviser Razzaq Dawood and accountability adviser Shahzad Akbar.
In the wake of the 18th Amendment, fiscal management needs fresh thinking
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government is facing grim challenges on the fiscal front as the Summary of Consolidated Federal and Provincial Fiscal Operations, 2020-21, released by the Ministry of Finance on February 3, 2021 for the first six months of the current fiscal year shows. It indicates that a part of defence spending is now funded by borrowing.
This is more than a fiscal fiasco a serious cause of concern threatening economic viability and national security of the country. The negative impact of mindless and costly borrowing, both external and internal, resulted in a 15 percent increase in debt-servicing, with fiscal deficit reaching Rs 1.4 trillion.