ISLAMABAD: During the upper house of the parliament’s discussion of the budget for 2023–24 on Monday, senators from both the government and opposition benches offered a number of recommendations to make it more populist.
Senator Engr. Rukhsana Zuberi commented during the discussion of the budget for 2023–2024 that a long-term economic charter should exist to improve the lives of the average person. She noted that the budget includes a commendable increase in the salaries and pension benefits for public employees, but she emphasized the importance of ensuring that this choice is carried out correctly. Many taxes, especially those that are related to the IT industry, she said, should be reviewed and made more friendly.
She said that those citizens using solar energy should be exempted from the tax as they are contributing to the country. She also suggested announcing investors and peoples awards to create a culture of encouragement.
Senator Fida Muhammad said that everyone should play a role in the progress of the country and work jointly for the strengthening of democratic institutions. He said that more incentives should be announced for the poor segment of society.
Senator Muhammad Abdul Qadir said that the role of the Senate on the budgetary documents should be more strengthened. He urged to make strong economic decisions for economic viability to control inflation and improve quality of life.
He said that power generation is major issue and stressed the need to improve the management system of power companies. He said that more focus should be on the efficiency of the independent power producers.
He said that IT and medicine exports should be enhanced up to $ 50 billion in the next five years which is very low presently and below $3 billion. He urged the government to take measures to attract more foreign direct investment.
