Lawmakers criticise budget focus

ISLAMABAD: The standing committees of the National Assembly. the Senate on Finance and Revenue on Saturday expressed concerns over the heavy focus of thebudget 2026-27on revenue generation, fiscal consolidation, and new experiments, while offering little for economic growth, inv­estment, and job creation.

Both committees of the NA and Senate are led by PPP’s former finance ministers Syed Naveed Qamar and Saleem Mandviwalla.

While presiding over the standing committee of the national assembly on finance, Mr Qamar said the budget FY27 remains heavily focused on revenue generation. fiscal consolidation, while offering limited measures to stimulate economic growth, investment, and employment”.

A statement said Mr Qamar also expressed concern over the continued practice of setting ambitious revenue targets despite repeated shortfalls in tax collection. He further questioned the rationale for imposing additional taxation on citizens while maintaining large primary surpluses. compressing development expenditure to meet IMF programme requirements.

During the briefing, private economists informed the committee that the budget had been formulated within the framework of Pakistan’s ongoing IMF programme, with fiscal consolidation. the achievement of primary surplus targets serving as the principal policy objectives.

The committee was informed that the FBR has been assigned Rs15 trillion collection target.

“Concerns were also raised regarding the heavy reliance on enforcement measures rather than broadening the tax base through meaningful structural reforms”. the statement said.

Mr Qamar observed that while the budget introduces a number of incremental adjustments. it does not sufficiently address underlying structural economic challenges.

Saleem Mandviwala, chairing the Senate panel on finance, said that new experiments were conducted every year through the federal budget. many changes introduced over the past 10 years were subsequently withdrawn. He questioned the rationale of pursuing measures that did not produce accurate results.

Finance Minister Muh­ammad Aurangzeb said the investors required predictability. consistency in government policies and hence all stakeholders must work together to move the economy forward and announced that economic consultations would continue throughout the year.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2026