ISLAMABD: Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said on Friday that the government intends to make the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) a transparent institution.

He was responding to a recommendation of Senators Professor Khurshid, Ishaq Dar, Mir Hasil Bazinjo and Pervez Rashid in the Senate. They proposed that an amount of Rs10 million should be allocated for making FBS an autonomous body.

“Grant is not an issue; rather we are trying to make it a transparent body,” the minister remarked.

Ishaq Dar said a bill to make FBS an autonomous body has been pending with the National Assembly for the last five months, which should be expedited. The minister said the movers of the recommendation would be briefed about the measures to be taken by the government for making the body transparent. The movers withdrew their recommendations on the assurance of the minister that FBS would be made transparent.

Ishaq Dar recommended that wealth tax should be introduced and the money collected under this head should be allocated for Social Safety Net. He said the tax to GDP ratio was reducing with each passing year and the government was taking foreign loans to meet its expenses, ultimately shifting the burden of interest of the foreign loans on the common man.

He said the amount to be collected under the head of National Safety Net should be utilised for BISP and other such programmes for the welfare of the poor people. Hafeez Shaikh did not oppose the recommendation, but said that a parliamentary committee should be constituted to look into the matter. Ishaq Dar agreed with the minister and withdrew his recommendation.

Professor Ibrahim Khan, Raja Zafar ul Haq, Mir Hasil Bazinjo, Begum Najma Hameed and Afia Zia proposed that the current expenditure of the government in the budget should be reduced by 20 per cent and the amount should be spent on Higher Education Commission.

Hafeez Shaikh while opposing the recommendation said the government believed that development with education and knowledge was not possible, adding that the government had been blamed for reducing the education budget.

He said the government did not reduce allocation for the education sector, adding the allocation should be seen after the passage of budgets of the provinces.

The Senate Chairman took census of the House on the recommendation and disposed it after majority of votes were cast against it. BR