Budget 2025-26: Friction within ruling partners necessitates last-minute tweaks

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Wednesday voiced strong reservations over a set of politically unpopular provisions in the federal budget for the next fiscal year, urging the government to amend contentious clauses ahead of its expected approval in the National Assembly today (Thursday). Former finance minister and PPP MNA Naveed Qamar, who currently chairs the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, met Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb in a bid to build consensus on key provisions of the Finance Bill 2025. With the clock ticking down to the National Assembly’s decisive vote on the Finance Bill on Thursday, tensions within the ruling coalition have intensified. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has meanwhile ramped up individual meetings with MNAs in the lead-up to the bill’s presentation in parliament.