Finance Minister says FBR will no longer draft next federal budget

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb has announced that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will no longer be responsible for preparing the federal budget from the next fiscal year.

The statement came during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, chaired by Saleem Mandviwalla, and attended by the Finance Minister and Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Awan.

During the session, the committee reviewed the issue of FBR’s appeal against a presidential order.

The chairman noted that despite challenging the order, FBR failed to comply with it. He further said the committee had been advised to seek the Attorney General’s opinion on the matter.

The counsel representing the affected citizen argued that FBR had challenged the presidential order in the Sindh High Court, although the law mandates FBR to comply with the President’s directives.

He added that FBR violated the law on three occasions by disregarding the order, despite clear instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Law.

Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Awan stated that in cases relating to goods classification, the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) could file an appeal.

However, the complainant maintained that, by law, institutions were bound to implement orders issued by the Federal Ombudsman and the President, without interpreting them. The Standing Committee instructed the Attorney General to resolve the issue.

Briefing the committee on the economic outlook, Finance Minister Aurangzeb said Pakistan had achieved macroeconomic stability. He revealed that the government would launch Panda Bonds worth $250 million by the end of November this year, with a total issuance plan of $1 billion.

He further informed the committee that Pakistan had successfully repaid a $500 million Eurobond and had made arrangements for the timely repayment of another $1.3 billion bond maturing in April 2026.

The minister underlined that tax policy had now been separated from FBR and would be handled by the Ministry of Finance’s new Tax Policy Office, which will oversee budget-making through year-round consultations.

He also said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was personally monitoring FBR’s transformation process, receiving weekly and monthly progress reports.