The Finance Ministry has strongly denied a media report, saying that the claim that Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has been given full authority to formulate the budget is “false, misleading and contrary to facts”.
This clarification came after news reports claimed that the government had delegated some key steps in the preparation of the upcoming budget to a committee headed by Ishaq Dar.
The report said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had formed a committee to review tax policy proposals, while certain tax reforms and implementation-related matters had also been given to a separate committee.
However, the Finance Ministry completely rejected this impression, saying that the committee formed by the prime minister was merely advisory in nature and its purpose was to review various policy proposals, not to transfer budget-making powers.
According to the ministry, such inter-ministerial consultations are normal, especially when economic decisions have wide-ranging implications.
The statement said that the entire budget-making process, macroeconomic framework, fiscal strategy and linkages with the IMF continue to be under the purview of the Finance Ministry.
The ministry added that Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb himself is also part of the relevant committee and is leading the linkages with international financial institutions.
The government statement also said that such reports create a false impression of institutional differences, while in reality budgeting is a joint and systematic government process.