Islamabad:
The National Assembly began on Tuesday the approval process of the federal budget for fiscal year 2025-26, allowing 108 demands of subsidies worth RS5,162.5 billion for 29 ministries and divisions after rejecting 405 cutting motions proposed by the opposition.
During the assembly session, chaired by President Ayaz Sadiq, the Minister of Finance and Income, Muhammad Aurengzeb, filed the demands under the head of development and continuous expenses without development in the Chamber.
The approval of subsidies belonging to the Ministry of Climate Change worth RS3.852 billion; Commerce Division, RS26,998.5 billion; Communications Division, RS114. 378 billion; Defense production, RS2,879 billion; Economic Affairs Division RS20,664 billion; Foreign Affairs Division, RS62.584 billion; and others.
Later, the opposition presented 405 cutting movements in the Secretariat of the Cabinet, Commerce, Ministries and Divisions of Defense and Energy. Opposition members described the performance of these unsatisfactory ministries and demanded a reduction in their budget.
The Chamber approved 29 demands for the Cabinet Secretariat worth RS151.63 billion and rejected 112 opposition cutting motions; Five demands of the Ministry of Defense worth more than RS2,600 billion, rejecting 22 cutting motions and two demands for the RS26.99 billion trade division, rejecting 69 cutting motions.
The Chamber postponed the approval of the cutting motions and the demands of subsidies related to the ministries of the interior, the finance, the human rights and the national food security until Wednesday (today). The session will resume on Wednesday (today) in the morning.
