Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services organized a Pre-Budget Seminar for the Honorable Members of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh in the provincial capital on May 18, 2017. The event began with the recitation of the Holy Quran and Naat e Rasool e Maqbool (SAW).
On behalf of the President PIPS BoG/Speaker National Assembly of Pakistan, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Executive Director PIPS, Mr Zafar Ullah Khan, welcomed the participants and thanked the Honorable Speaker of Provincial Assembly of Sindh, Agha Siraj Khan Durrani, for extending his patronage to the event by acting as the guest of honor during the inaugural session. It was followed by remarks by Ms Dona Bugby-Smith, Team Leader, Subai EU Project which collaborated with PIPS in making the event successful. Honorable Members of the Provincial Assembly delivered keynote speeches on Annual Budget during session one. The pre-budget seminar was attended by 35 Members of Provincial Assembly and 23 functionaries and experts.
Dr Waseem Shahid Malik, Associate Professor and SBP Hon. Chair, University of Balochistan, underscored “Key economic challenges facing Pakistan’s economy with special focus on Provincial economy of Sindh” during the second session. The challenges and opportunities regarding National Finance Commission for Sindh came under limelight during third session which was led by Dr Kaiser Bengali, Renowned Economist and Member National Finance Commission. Additional Director PIPS, Mr Haider Abbas, shared tips for reading and analyzing budget document. Mr Tarique Hussain Tunio, Commissioner Sindh Revenue Board, gave a detailed presentation on “Revenue generation by Sindh province.” He highlighted a number of key challenges and opportunities in this regard. During the final session, Ms Mahnaz Rahman, Resident Director Aurat Foundation in Karachi, presented an overview of social sector allocation and outcomes with regard to Gender-based budgeting.
The series of absorbing session concluded with highly interactive Q&A session. Mr. Muhammad Rizwan Manzoor, Research Officer PIPS, moderated the seminar which ended with vote of thanks to the worthy participants.