KARACHI: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will host a pre-budget meeting of stakeholders today, Tuesday, to provide a platform to experts and practitioners from the export, textile, IT, agriculture and business sectors to share their proposals and ideas with the government.
Pakistan will present its budget for fiscal year 2022-23 on Friday, at a time when the government is battling a widening current account deficit, weakening currency and depleting foreign exchange reserves that can roughly cover import payments for two months. Inflation in the South Asian nation is in the double digits.
The government is also engaged in ongoing talks with the IMF for the resumption of a $3 billion loan program signed in 2019.
“Today’s pre-budget business conference is part of our national dialogue on the economy. I will interact with the business community & other stakeholders associated with commerce, industry and trade,” Sharif said on Twitter. “Vital to include their input in economic decision-making.”
A statement from the finance division said the government believed the public and private sectors had to work “hand-in-hand” to tackle Pakistan’s economic crisis.
“The present government aspires for a pro-people budget and is well-aware that for refined, inclusive and effective budget making, thorough consultation with public as well as private stakeholders is mandatory,” the statement said. “For this reason, a pre-budget conference is being held tomorrow 7th June, 2022 on Business, Agriculture, Textile, Exports and IT.”
“The objective of this conference is to provide a platform to agriculturists, IT experts and businessmen to share and exchange their proposals with the present government on IT, Agriculture and Business, Textile and Exports. Moreover, the participants would be given the opportunity to share their solution-oriented ideas for simplifying taxation systems, enhancing the ease of doing business in Pakistan, strengthening and broadening tax base, and mechanisms for enhancing the transparency and accountability in use of public resources.”
The finance division said it had also developed a web portal ( https://pbc.nitb.gov.pk) to invite proposals and recommendations.
