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  "path": "/news/2007283/finance-minister-presents-fy2026-27-budget-in-na-amid-loud-protests-by-opposition",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-12T12:57:39.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.dawn.com",
  "tags": [
    "Business",
    "settled their issues",
    "complaining"
  ],
  "textContent": "Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb is presenting the FY2026-27 budget in the National Assembly (NA), addressing a session that began two hours after the scheduled time of 3pm and is marred by loud protests by the opposition.\n\nNA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq is presiding over the session, who invited Aurangzeb to present the budget.\n\nAurangzeb began by thanking allies part of the ruling coalition, including PPP Chairperson Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari.\n\nHe said the budget was being presented at a time when the world listened to Pakistan and desired its friendship. “But this was not coincidental. It began when Pakistan gave a befitting response to India in May 2025.”\n\n“This success was a result of decades-long professional training and preparedness,” he added. “Today, the world praises Pakistan’s defence capabilities. This is the reason that many countries are in contact with Pakistan to include the fighter jets protecting our skies in their fleet.”\n\nThe finance minister said the country’s defence sector had become a source of foreign exchange earnings. “It is proof that strong defence is not just important for the country’s sovereignty but could also contribute to economic progress.”\n\n“This defence capability has reshaped our strategic partnerships not just in the region but in the world,” he said, mentioning a defence pact signed between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia last year.\n\nHe said last year’s defence pact had laid a new foundation of Pak-Saudi ties, crediting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir for it.\n\nThe finance minister also elaborated on Pakistan’s efforts for peace between the US and Iran. “Pakistan’s efforts are directed towards establishing long-term peace in the region through an agreement and restoring the transit of oil through the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.\n\nAurangzeb said Pakistan had “complete support” of China in these efforts, further highlighting the importance of ties between Islamabad and Beijing.\n\n“Pak-China relations are an important part of our foreign policy. China is Pakistan’s most important trading partner,” he said.\n\nTurning his attention to oil prices, he mentioned the US-Israeli war on Iran and noted that petrol and diesel had skyrocketed globally after the conflict.\n\nHe said that, however, local prices in Pakistan did not fully reflect this rise in prices. “Had the government passed on the entire burden to the people, the local prices would have been much higher,” he said, saying that the government have given people relief through subsidies of Rs128 billion.\n\nThe minister said that the current dispensation, led by PM Shehbaz, would be presenting its third budget.\n\nBefore further elaborating on the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, he gave a roundup of the past two years. He said the GDP growth in the outgoing fiscal year was recorded at 3.7 per cent, growth in large scale manufacturing was recorded at 6.1pc and 4.1pc growth was witnessed in the services sector.\n\n“The growth in LSM and services sectors is the highest in four years,” he added.\n\nThe minister said the size of the country’s economy had increased to $452bn, terming it a “new milestone”. Moreover, per capita income had increased to $1,901 from last year’s $1,751 and the policy rate had saw a “historic decline” over the past two years, he added.\n\n## Bilawal attends\n\nPPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is also among the participants.\n\nEarlier, the PPP, the main ally of the ruling PML-N, said its chairperson Bilawal would not attend the session, but it also clarified that the party was not boycotting the session.\n\n“Some members will attend the session. The PPP will be a part of the budget process in the national interest,” the party posted on X. The post was later deleted.\n\nIn a subsequent post, the party said Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar had held a meeting with Bilawal at Parliament.\n\n> A third post by the party said that Bilawal was chairing a joing parliamentary meeting of the PPP, where the budget, Gilgit-Baltistan elections and the situation in Azad Kashmir were discussed.\n\n> The PPP and PML-N had held multiple rounds of talks ahead of the budget before they settled their issues on matters pertaining to the budget.\n\nIn the NA today, PPP members, including Shazia Marri, staged a protest before the budget presentation, demanding that the government provide Sindh its due share of water.\n\n“Sindh is facing 48 per cent water shortage,” said a placard held by Shazia Mari. PPP members also surrounded the speaker’s dais for some time before returning to their seats. They raised the slogan “Give us water to drink and live”.\n\nThe PPP, which is in the government in Sindh, has been complaining of “unjust reduction” in the province’s water share by the Indus River Systems Authority.\n\nPPP leader Shazia Marri, speaking to _Geo News,_ held that the party will only have “token participation” in the budget session, citing an “unreasonable” attitude from ruling ally PML-N.\n\nShe said that the PPP had a parliamentary meeting where “key points” emerged, including the “political side” of the PML-N-led federal government, whether over elections in Gilgit-Baltistan or the situation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and water shortage issues in Sindh and Balochistan.\n\n“PPP has always cooperated in matters of national interest; however, PML-N has its own personal and political interests, and we cannot sacrifice our workers and voters for it,” she said.\nShe added that the PPP’s sole demand was that it be granted its rightful “political space”.\n\n“Wherever PPP has the mandate, it should be respected,” she added, recalling that PPP had supported PML-N in forming the federal government.\n\n“Do not conspire against PPP’s political space and give us our rightful mandate,” she warned.\n\nSeparately, the federal cabinet approved the budget for the upcoming fiscal year in a meeting held at the Parliament House.\n\nEarlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also met with a delegation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), its coalition partner, where the two sides had discussions about the budget.\n\nPM Shehbaz termed the MQM-P an “important allied party of the government”, hailing its “positive and constructive role in the development of the country, economic stability, and the completion of the agenda for public welfare”.\n\n> * * *\n\n_More to follow_",
  "title": "Finance minister presents FY2026-27 budget in NA amid loud protests by opposition"
}