President signs finance bill into law to ‘unlock way ’ for stalled IMF tranche

iSLAMABAD

President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday signed the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2023, generally known as the mini-budget as the government rushed to fulfill the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) conditions to unlock an economic bailout that the country needs to avoid the risk of default

The Prime Minister Secretariat sent the bill to the President Secretariat on Wednesday evening for assent two days after it was passed by the National Assembly “The president approved the bill in accordance with Article 75 of the Constitution, the media wing of the President house said in a statement issued on Thursday

Under Article 75 (1) the president has no power to reject or object to the finance bill, which is considered to be a money bill as per the Constitution

The article reads “When a Bill is presented to the President for assent, the President shall, within [ten] days,–(a) assent to the Bill; or (b) in the case of a Bill other than a Money Bill return the Bill to the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) with a message requesting that the Bill or any specified provision thereof be reconsidered and that any amendment specified in the message be considered” With the implementation of all major prior actions, Pakistan is eyeing a staff-level agreement with the IMF this week which will also pave the way for muchawaited credit flows from other bilateral and multilateral lenders