ISLAMABAD, May 18: The federal budget for financial year 2005-2006 will be presented by Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan in the National Assembly on Monday, June 6. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz held with Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and secretary-general Mushahid Hussain at the Prime Minister’s House on Wednesday.

It had been decided earlier that the budget would be presented by prime minister’s adviser on finance Dr Salman Shah with the special permission of the National Assembly speaker.

Mr Mushahid Hussain told Dawn that the meeting discussed the issue of budget presentation and decided that Mr Omar Ayub would prepare a strategy for debate on the budget.

According to an official handout, the prime minister said that due to the successful policies of the government, the country had achieved a growth rate of 8.3 per cent which was indicative of a healthy and robust economy.

He said the forthcoming budget would focus on providing relief to the common man and raising his standard of living besides making substantial allocations for development projects, especially those relating to health and education.

With regard to local bodies’ elections, Mr Aziz observed that people were fully cognizant of the importance of ballot in a democratic set-up, adding that their verdict would be respected. Also on Wednesday, Chaudhry Shujaat and former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali met Mr Aziz at the Prime Minister’s House.