ISLAMABAD, April 7: The coalition government has decided to summon former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to explain the reasons for rapidly deteriorating state of national economy.

“Our economy is under great pressure. We must have knowledge of the economic situation today. Mr Aziz will be asked to attend the meetings to give his view on the state of economy,” Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Monday.

He was responding to questions during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue.

Mr Dar said that as a member of the standing committee in the previous government he always looked at the growth figures with suspicion, but Mr Aziz had been portraying rosy pictures of the economy over the past eight years.

Mr Aziz left the country soon after the formation of the caretaker government. It is not clear if there is any special power which may be used to summon Mr Aziz to return to the country and brief the government.

The finance minister said he would present a transparent and factual statement on the state of economy till March 31 in the National Assembly, Senate and its relevant committees.

This would give you an opening statement of the economic situation of the government, he added.

Responding to a proposal of Senator Mohammad Anwar Bhinder, Mr Dar said he supported the idea of presenting a blueprint of the budget in the National Assembly and senate two to three months ahead of the budget.

Mr Dar informed the committee that the next budget would focus would on the manufacturing industry and agriculture. “We want to prepare a budget for the poor people and not for the elite. We have to reduce unemployment and take the country forward,” he said.

The committee suggested that tax anomalies should be removed, employment opportunities should be created and relief the common man. The committee directed the FBR to study and respond to the proposals put forward by various stakeholders, including the chambers of commerce and stock exchanges in next four to five days.

“Kindly don’t make demands, which are unrealistic. Please review your demands and give ideas to enhance revenue,” Mr Dar said. He said that liabilities had increased to more than Rs300 billion.

Rise in oil prices, various subsidies given by the previous government and withholding of payments on various counts further aggravated the economic situation, he said adding, that revenue generation was stagnant.

Chairman of the committee Senator Ahmed Ali underlined the need for increasing resources and income. Members of the committee urged focus on generating revenue from untapped sources.