President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday approved the summoning of the budget sessions of both houses of Parliament on June 5.

The session of the National Assembly will be held on Friday, June 5, at 5:00 pm, while the Senate session will commence the same day at 6:00 pm, a Presidency’s news release said. The budget is drawing intense scrutiny as it is being finalised under Pakistan’s $7 billion IMF Extended Fund Facility, alongside a separate climate resilience financing programme.

The lender has continued to press Islamabad to stay the course on fiscal consolidation and structural reforms aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability and strengthening external reserves.

The budgetary exercise is also taking place amid growing regional volatility linked to the US-Iran conflict, which has rattled global shipping lanes and energy markets, fuelling fresh concerns over Pakistan’s import costs and external account pressures.

Once tabled in the National Assembly, the federal budget will undergo debate from both treasury and opposition lawmakers before being put to a vote and approved ahead of the new fiscal year beginning on July 1.