Government will present budget before tenure ends: Miftah Ismail

Miftah Ismail, the prime minister’s adviser on finance, has said the present government will present the upcoming budget before it completes its tenure on May 31.

In an interview to a news organisation, Ismail said the government will not introduce any new development projects in the new budget.

He added that the government has approached the Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in this regard through the office of the National Assembly speaker.

Ismail also asserted that the provincial governments will also pass their respective budgets before the assemblies are dissolved.

Moreover, Ismail said that the rising trade deficit is behind the recent spike in the exchange rate of the rupee with the US dollar.

He claimed that the exchange rate has now settled according to the market and is not going to rise further.

In late March, the dollar rate rose to Rs115 in the interbank foreign exchange market at the close of business.

The 4.51 per cent fall in a single day had unsettled the market and was the highest recorded depreciation in the currency’s value since 2008.

At present, the dollar is trading at around Rs116 in the open market.