The senator from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) staged a protest in the Upper House of the Parliament as Finance Minister Ishaq Dar got in to present a copy of the proposed financial bill.

Dr Shehzad Waseem led the protest.  Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani sought recommendations on the budget by June 13.

Earlier, Ishaq Dar presented the Rs14.46 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) in the National Assembly. The government set a modest growth target of 3.5%.

Dar began his speech by listing the feats of the PML-N’s previous government under Nawaz Sharif and blamed the financial fiasco on the last PTI government.

Dar said that when the coalition government took over from the PTI in 2022, the country’s economy was in dire straits, with forex reserves depleting and the IMF programme in the doldrums.

The finance minister said for the next year, GDP growth had been budgeted at 3.5 per cent, terming it a “modest target”. He said that this budget is “not an election budget” and is focusing on the “elements of the real economy”.

Dar said agriculture is the backbone of the economy and this budget is placing special attention on this sector. He then went on to list some of the special measures taken for the agri sector, the primary among which was increasing agri loans from Rs1.8 trillion to Rs2.25 trillion.