Budget FY27 sets the foundation to accelerate sustainable growth seen in past 2 years: Aurangzeb

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Saturday asserted that the proposed budget for the next fiscal year (FY27) would set the foundation for “accelerating the sustainable growth” recorded in the past two years. His address follows the NA’s discussions earlier in the day on 140 recommendations made by the Senate on the budget. The finance czar recalled that MNAs presented their opinions on the proposed budget during the debate, adding that reservations were also voiced in some proposals. “But, we have gotten very clear feedback from within and outside the House that this is overall a positive and pro-growth budget, which sets the foundation to accelerate the sustainable growth witnessed over the last two years,” he declared. Aurangzeb thanked the lawmakers for participating in the budget debate, specifically Opposition Leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai, as well as Saleem Mandviwala and Naveed Qamar, who head the standing committees on finance for Senate and NA, respectively. The minister said both committees reviewed the budget recommendations with sincerity and gave their recommendations for improvement, “some of which are intended to be included in the Finance Bill 2026”. He also thanked the leaders of the parties in the ruling coalition by name, describing their leadership as “very important in preparing the budget”. Aurangzeb noted that a privilege motion had been moved by Khawaja Sheraz Mehmood and Azimuddin Zahid, which contended that the budget document had discrepancies. He added that questions were raised on the GDP growth for FY26, the per capita income and their methodology. “I want to clarify that no changes at all have been made to the methodology used for reporting the economic indicators,” the finance czar said. He remarked that the economic indicators for FY18 would also be presented before the MNAs who raised the concerns, so that “it is apparent that there is consistency of measurement from administration to administration”. The minister explained that