ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb moved a copy of the Finance Bill, 2026 in the Senate on Friday amidst protest by the opposition lawmakers who rejected the proposed federal budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
In the brief Senate sitting, the finance minister laid a copy of the proposed Finance Bill 2025, shortly after presenting it in the National Assembly, in the Senate, in accordance with the relevant constitutional provisions, following which, Chairman Senate Yousaf Raza Gilani directed the senators to share their recommendations, if any, on the bill by June 15.
The chairman then referred the bill to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue with the direction to finalise its recommendations on the bill.
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Allama Raja Nasir Abbas did not attend the session. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senators, led by Parliamentary Leader Ali Zafar, resorted to sloganeering against the proposed federal budget dismissing it as “anti-poor” and “anti-public.”
The chairman Senate adjourned the Senate sitting till Monday.
The Upper House of the Parliament can hold extensive debate on the finance bill and devise recommendations accordingly, but it has no significant role in budgetary legislation, since it is completely up to the National Assembly to either accept those recommendations or reject them completely or partially.
The Article 73 of the Constitution of Pakistan, which deals with parliamentary business with respect to money bills, reads that a money bill shall “originate in the National Assembly: Provided that simultaneously when a money bill, including the finance bill containing the annual budget statement, is presented in the National Assembly, a copy thereof shall be transmitted to the Senate which may, within 14 days, make recommendations thereon to the National Assembly.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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