Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS), in collaboration of the Mustehkam Parliamaan EU-GIZ Project organized an interactive Parliamentary Seminar on State of Economy and Annual Budget for Hon’able Members of Provincial Assembly of Balochistan on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, in Serena Hotel, Quetta. Hon’able Acting Speaker, Provincial Assembly of Balochistan, Sardar Babar Musakhel presided the event. The Seminar was attended by more than 46 participants including Hon’able Minsters, Zamrak Khan Achakzai and Mubeen Khilji and cross party MPAs including Mir Zahoor Buledi, Sana Baloch, Malik Naseer Shahwani, Akhtar Hussain Langu, Mir Akbar Mengal, Dr. Rubaba Khan Buledi, Khalil George, Ahmed Nawaz Baloch. A delegation of senior faculty members of economics from Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS) and parliamentary functionaries of Balochistan Assembly also attended the event.

The proceedings began with recitation of Holy Quran, followed by a round of introduction of participants. Hon’able Acting Speaker, Provincial Assembly of Balochistan, Sardar Babar Musakhel gave the inaugural address. He shared his key experiences on the subject matter and focused on continuous rounds of such interactive parliamentary dialogues on economy and budget where Hon’able Members may engage with key experts to enhance collective wisdom in important area of economy. Muhammad Rizwan Manzoor, Assistant Director (PIPS Budget and Economy Desk) was the moderator of the event.

The first session on Rules of Procedure of the Balochistan Assembly and Parliamentary Tools for Budget session was facilitated by Mr. Tahir Shah Kakar, Secretary, Provincial Assembly of Balochistan. He covered key rules, constitutional provisions pertaining to annual budget, demands for grants and supplementary grants. The second session of the event on constitutional provisions on, provincial budget and fiscal oversight, was facilitated by Mr. Aizaz Asif, PFM Experts Mustehkam Parlimaan. He shed light on available parliamentary authority through parliamentary committees in actual participation in budget making, authorization and scrutiny of various ministries throughout the year.

Dr. Amanat Ali (Professor of Economics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad) facilitated an important session of the event on key economic challenges of Pakistan’s economy as well as challenges and opportunities of economy of Balochistan.  A high intellectual debate was generated on resources constraint, current account crises, growing debt, hiking interest rates and exchange rates, with background of such issues and possible set of solutions. The last session of the seminar on Provincial Share of Balochistan in the NFC: Review and analysis of the last three-years of Balochistan budget, was facilitated by Mr. Dawood Ahmed, PFM Expert of Mustehkam Parlimaan. In the end an hour long interactive Q&A session was conducted where Hon’able Members and experts deliberated on key budget and economy issues such as resources constraint, fiscal decentralization, federal-provincial coordination, NFC awards etc.