ISLAMABAD - Though the PTI’s government had managed to ensure legislation on FATF bills in joint session of parliament, yet it yesterday failed to maintain required strength in the National Assembly to run the house.
With the outset of the proceedings, the opposition expressed desire to the chair to speak on point of order.
The chair was seemingly more interested to initiate a Question-Hour session before the point of orders.
PML-N’s Murtaza Javed Abbasi, after failing to get the floor, rushed to point out the required quorum in the house. The chair suspended the house for half an hour, so that the government members could manage required strength (86 MNAs) in the house.
However, the government could not manage the required strength in half an hour and the chair prorogued the session. Interestingly, the government the other day (Wednesday) defeated the opposition in the joint session of parliament with majority of votes.
Minister for Economic Affairs, in a written reply, told the house that government of Pakistan received foreign assistance amounting to US$ 3,552.11 million as loans and grants from various bilateral & multilateral development partners to address the health-related and socio-economic challenges caused by COVID-19 pandemic.
“The G-20 Countries provided a relief of US$ 2,012.47 million through debt service suspension to provide fiscal relief in the context of COVID-19 pandemic,” said the minister, adding that that the external economic assistance provided a fiscal space to the government to divert financial resources for saving live & livelihood of the common citizens and mitigate socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
He said it also helped the government to improve foreign exchange reserves, stabilize exchange rate and build buffers against external economic shocks.
