ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue has directed Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to attend the next meeting to brief the committee regarding the delay in the agreements between the government of Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue was held on Thursday in the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, MNA.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of the Minister for Finance in the meeting. The committee desired that the finance minister should attend the next meeting to brief the committee regarding the delay in the agreements with the IMF.
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Regarding the issue of pensionary benefits to the retired employees of the NBP, the committee directed the SBP and the NBP to resolve this important issue. The Minister of State was of the view that the pensioners should follow the proper process as their case was considered in the NBP Board and the first meeting of the Board has already been convened.
Kiran Imran Dar, MNA expressed gratitude over the Committee directions to National Savings on her Point of Order regarding long queue of pensioners for collection of pension and payment from National Saving Schemes.
She said that National Savings has facilitated the pensioners on the direction of the Committee and now their long queues have been eliminated. Later, the Committee recommended to raise the minimum wage of sweepers, low-paid servants; working in the Parliament House and Parliament Lodges, up to Rs25,000 per month.
Besides the Minister of States for Finance, Dr Aisha Ghous Pasha, the meeting was attended by Members of the National Assembly; Chaudhry Khalid Javed, Ch. Muhammad BirjeesTahir, Ali Pervaiz, DrNafisa Shah, Syed Hussain Tariq, EngrSabirHussainQaimkhani, Khalid HussainMagsi, Makhdoom Syed Sami-ul-Hassan Gillani and Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani. Movers of the matters referred to the Standing Committee, KishwarZehra and Kiran Imran Dar, MNAs were also present in the meeting. The meeting was also attended by the senior officers from Finance Division, Revenue Division (FBR), the SBP, the NBP, and the ZTBL.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023