Independent experts evaluating: Aurangzeb

SOHAIL SARFRAZ

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said that the government has engaged independent experts/ analysts to evaluate budget 2025-26 proposals received from business and trade.

Sharing update on federal budget (2025-26) from Karachi, Finance Minister informed National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Wednesday that over 95 percent of the budget proposals have been received from business community. The independent analysts have been engaged to analyse the budget proposals.

The tax policy would be framed by the newly established unit at Ministry of Finance in future. Director General of Tax Policy Unit would report to the Finance Minister, he said.

Minister Aurangzeb participated in the NA Panel meeting virtually from Karachi and briefed the committee about his recent visit to Washington DC and attending more than 70 meetings with multilateral, bilateral creditors, counterpart ministers, representatives of international credit rating agencies.

During his visit to US, three messages were received from donors/ agencies: Firstly, continuation of structural reforms and policies. Secondly, Pakistan should remain stay on course on economic front. Thirdly, consistency in policy reforms, he added.

At the outset, the Federal Minister for Finance briefed the Committee on his US visit, meetings with high level delegates and the upcoming Budget.

The Chairman expressed his gratitude, stating that this was a significant development, as it marked the first time that the Standing Committee would formally deliberate on the budget. He added that, in the past, budget discussions were largely confined to the Assembly session and often detached from the detailed matters.