ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Vice Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday said the PTI wouldn’t allow the federal government to present the budget 2018-19 in the National Assembly.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led federal government plans to present the budget for next fiscal year in the Lower House on April 27 (Friday).
Talking to media representatives outside the Parliament House in Islamabad today, Shahe Mehmood Qureshi however said his party wouldn’t let the next federal budget be presented by the incumbent government.
“You have presented five budgets how can you present the 6th?” Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, adding the public would decide who would present the next budget.
The Vice Chairman PTI said they would not allow the Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Miftah Ismail to deliver a budget speech.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the incumbent government had only one month left; therefore, he added, the budget if presented now would adversely affect the incoming government.
On Tuesday, the Chief Ministers of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan staged a walkout from the meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), alleging that the federal government didn’t include provincial schemes in the federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).
Shah Mehmood Qureshi said whatever happened yesterday in the NEC meeting was necessary to be told. He said presenting the budget on April 27 had become meaningless.
The PTI leader said the National Economic Council was the best forum but if the members of the forum staged a walkout or oppose, how could a bill be passed.
