ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Senator Shaukat Tarin will take oath as Federal Finance minister today.
Tarin had confirmed the news while speaking with Profit on Friday. “I will take oath as minister of finance on Monday as I have already taken the oath of senatorship”.
He was sworn in as a senator on Friday after being elected on a vacant seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) last Monday. The oath was administered by Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani.
According to the details, Tarin bagged 87 votes, while four votes were rejected and five lawmakers did not partake in the elections.
It may be recalled that PTI’s Ayub Afridi had resigned from his seat in the Senate last month to pave way for finance chief’s election.
On October 18, he was notified as Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue after his six-month constitutional tenure as the country’s finance minister expired on October 15 and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had failed to elect him a member of the lower or upper house of parliament.
The government had appointed him federal finance minister on April 16, 2021, after removing Hammad Azhar from this slot.
Shaukat Tarin is once again taking charge of the Finance Ministry at a time when the government is in a tough situation to meet the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) conditions with regard to passing the finance supplementary and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) amendment bills through the parliament.
It was imperative for Tarin to get elected as a senator as only lawmakers can present the budget in parliament.
The federal government will present both bills in the National Assembly (NA) next week. In this regard, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance Muzammil Aslam on Thursday in a tweet confirmed that the 6th review will be presented to the IMF Board on January 12, 2022.
Officials working on senior positions in the National Assembly told this scribe that the government can approve any bill through the parliament within three days if there is some sort of urgency whereas the incumbent regime is bound to pass a bill within ninety days in normal situations.
However, it is the parliamentarians’ prerogative to discuss bills that the federal government tabled after vetting them from the law ministry.
Reportedly, the law ministry has vetted the Finance Supplementary Bill, 2021, whereas the Cabinet Committee on Legislative cases (CCLC), under the chair of the law minister, will review the SBP Amendment Bill, 2021, draft next week despite the fact that the government has reportedly completed its discussion with the lending organisation on this subject.
It is pertinent to note that the government must pass the bills through parliament next week if it wants to meet the IMF’s conditions for getting the stalled $1 billion loan tranche.
He was sworn in as a senator on Friday after being elected on a vacant seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) last Monday. The oath was administered by Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani.