Islamabad (Staff Report): The National Assembly (NA) has passed the Finance Supplementary (Amendment) Bill 2018.
Finance Minister Asad Umar presented the supplementary finance bill.
The opposition members challenged Clause 2 of the amendment and demanded that there should be headcount on it as NA speaker Asad Qaiser, while chairing a session of on Wednesday, initiated the voting process on the bill through verbal voting.
During the headcount, 158 voted in favour of Clause 2 while 120 opposed it.
A clause-wise approval of the bill was then sought in the assembly. The last amendment in the bill was presented by a Pakistan Peoples Party member and was regarding the increase in salaries of lawmakers and a request for the right to withdraw pension.
Finance Minister Umar objected to the recommended amendment and said, “It cannot be approved as the country’s economy is not in a state to allow it.”
The National Assembly then rejected four amendments put forth by the opposition, and approved the bill through majority votes.