National Assembly passes five bills related to finance, defence

The National Assembly Thursday passed with majority of the vote, four bills related to nationalization of banks, investment corporation, State Bank of Pakistan Banking Service Corporation and agricultural and commercial loans.

The bills including the Banks (Nationalization) (Amendment) Bill, 2018, the Investment Corporation of Pakistan (Repeal) Bill, 2018, the SBP Banking Services Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Loans for Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Purposes (Amendment) Bill, 2017 were moved by State Minister for Finance, Rana Mohammad Afzal in the house.

The house passed a bill further to amend the Banks (Nationalization) Act 1974 [the Banks (Nationalization) (Amendment) Bill, 2018].

The National Assembly also passed the bill to repeal the Investment Corporation of Pakistan Ordinance, 1966 [the Investment Corporation of Pakistan (Repeal) bill, and the bill further to amend the SBP Banking Services Corporation Ordinance, 2001 [The SBP Banking Service Corporation (Amendment) bill 2017].

The house also passed the bill further to amend the Loans for Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Purposes Act, 1973 in its application to such areas in the Federation as are not included in any province [The Loans for Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Purposes (Amendment) Bill, 2017.

Meanwhile, the house also passed a bill to provide for constitution and regulation of the Joint Maritime Information Organization (The Joint Maritime Information Organization Bill, 2018] with some partial amendments proposed by the opposition member Dr Shireen Mazari.

The bill was moved in house by Minister for Defence and Foreign Affairs, Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan.

State Minister for Finance, Rana Muhammad Afzal also laid before the house the Second Quarterly report of the Board of Directors of the State Bank of Pakistan on the state of Pakistan’s Economy for the year 2017-18 as required by Section 9A(2) of the State Bank of Pakistan Act, 1956.

APP