ISLAMABAD, May 11 (APP):Lawmakers on Friday expressed satisfaction over the economic development of the country saying that the indicators show the economy has been put on path of growth and development.
Participating in the budget debate, Zahid Hamid congratulated Miftah Ismail for successfully presenting budget for the year 2018-19, which he said was a roadmap for future progress and prosperity.
He said the credit of progress and development in the country goes to former prime minister, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and former Finance Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar.
He said due to the prudent policies of the government, the country achieved 5.8 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
during the fiscal year 2017-18, which was highest during the last 13 years.
He said during the outgoing fiscal year, the agriculture grew by 3.8 percent, industry by 5.9 percent, services sector
by 6.4 percent while the inflation remained below five percent, which is lowest in last five years.
He said the government had also launched many development projects during the year particularly energy projects and included 12,230 megawatt electricity in the national transmission system.
He said the government has also set growth target of 6.2 percent for the fiscal year 2018-19. He was of the view that the public debt should remain within the limits of Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act.
He said the government had also initiated many projects for the development of Karachi.
Participating in the debate, Shazia Marri expressed concern over the release of bail to five accused in the murder former prime minister, Mohtarama Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.
She said the government should have not presented this budget as its constitutional tenure was ending within a few days.
She said that the government has not announced National Finance Commission (NFC) Award.
Naeema Kishwar Khan while commenting on the
budgetary proposals forwarded by the Senate, appreciated Senate Standing
Committee on Finance for presenting about 157 recommendations within a short
time.
She said that there are about 50 to 60 recommendations
related to Baluchistan which should be incorporated in the budget to help
development of the province, also stressing the need that same should be done
for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
She said that recommendations related to
agriculture, fisheries, easing of tax-filing, halal food and many more that were aimed at providing relief to
people should be accepted.
Shehryar Afridi, while commenting on the
recommendations of the Senate said that tax was an obligation which every
person should pay and criticized the government for creating difficulties for
overseas Pakistanis. He said that all federating units should be taken into
confidence to provide them due share in resources, which he said would help promote
democracy in the country.
He also rejected the idea of presenting the
budget for 12 months when the government was leaving within a few days.
On the occasion, SA Iqbal Qadri said that the
government was increasing indirect taxation which has been putting burden on
common people. He said that since this was last budget of the government, so it
should have cut sales tax and levy on petroleum products to provide relief to
the masses.
Riaz Hussain Pirzada said the Pakistan was water-scarce
country, so the government should initiate projects to clean sea water as is
being done in many countries of the world. He said that water purifying plants should
be installed as the technology has already been developed by Pakistan
Agricultural Council (PARC).
He also urged for taking comprehensive
measures to overcome the problems created due to increasing population growth. He
said that the credit of bringing peace to the country goes to Mian Muhammad
Nawaz Sharif.
Usman Tarakai stressed the need that all the
institutions of the country should work in their respective domains. He said
that developing of the transmission system was imperative to overcome the problems
load-shedding.
Rao Ajmal said that agriculture was the backbone
of the country’s economy, highlighting the importance of implementing single
digit mark up rates on agriculture loans. He said that no funds were provided
for developing water reservoirs which would have negative impact agriculture
produce.
Sahibzada Mohammad Yoqoob stressed the need
for ensuring balance in developing projects of various provinces besides
highlighting the importance of reducing debt burden of the country.
Shugufta Jamani said that it was unfortunate
that despite rejection of budget by the opposition, it was presented. She opposed
the idea of establishing one more convention center for which the government
has allocated Rs100 billion in the federal Public Sector Development Programme
(PSDP) 2018-19.