ISLAMABAD: As the federal cabinet’s approval of the Budget Strategy Paper remains pending, the government is set to approve next fiscal year’s macroeconomic framework, which envisages 6.2% economic growth rate and 6% inflation targets.
The Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC) will approve fiscal year 2018-19’s macroeconomic framework and federal Public Sector Development Programme on Monday. Historically, APCC meetings have been held after the approval of the Budget Strategy Paper from the federal cabinet.
However, this year, the government has convened the APCC meeting without first securing the cabinet’s approval of the budget strategy paper, which has denied the federal ministers the right to give their input.
After the APCC’s approval, the National Economic Council is the final authority to approve the macroeconomic framework. The NEC is headed by the country’s prime minister and the provincial chief ministers are its members. The NEC is also tentatively scheduled to meet next week.
The finance ministry has presented the Budget Strategy Paper to the premier and will now present it in the next federal cabinet meeting, said Dr Miftah Ismail, advisor to prime minister on finance. To a question, the advisor said that the federal cabinet can always amend anything it wants even after the macroeconomic framework’s approval by the APCC.
The government has advanced the budget calendar by about five weeks, as its five-year constitutional term is going to end on May 31. President Mamnoon Hussain called the budget session of the National Assembly for April 27. Both mainstream political parties, the PPP and PTI, are opposing the government’s decision to announce the budget for next year.
According to Article 86 of the Constitution, the interim government can authorise expenditures during the month of June from an already approved budget for the current fiscal year for a period not exceeding four months in any financial year, recently wrote former finance secretary Dr Waqar Masood.
