• 14th National Assembly debated Federal Budget 2013-2014 for 17 working days from presentation to passage
• 24% increase in the number of working days devoted to debating the Federal Budget 2013-2014 compared to the average of five budget sessions of 13th National Assembly
• Despite increase in the number of working days, 8% drop in time consumed in budget debate 2013-2014 compared to average of 13th National Assembly 5 years Budget debates; total 33 hours and 3 minutes consumed in debating Budget 2013-2014 compared to 36 Hours and 6 minutes average of 13th National Assembly
• Decline in number of MNAs participating in the budget debate: 20 % less MNAs participated in 2013-2014 budget debate compared to the 13th National Assembly Average
• Of all the members who participated in the budget debate, 30 % belonged to PML-N, 23 % to PPPP and 10 % to PTI
• More time given to the opposition for budget debate: Treasury benches consumed 13 hours 42 minutes or 41% of total time while opposition members spoke for 19 hours 21 minutes or 59% of the time in Budget debate
• PML-N members utilised 8 hours and 32 minutes followed by PPPP and PTI 7 hours and 53 minutes and 5 hours and 10 minutes respectively
• PM attended 2 sittings or only 15% of the budget session compared to 100% of the sittings attended by the Leader of the Opposition
• Syed Khurshid Shah, Leader of the Opposition spoke on the Budget more than any other member; Spoke for 1 Hour and 32 minutes or 5 % of the total Budget debate time followed by Ahsan Iqbal, Minister of Planning and Development, who spoke for 55 Minutes or 3 % of the total budget debate

Islamabad: July 11; Federal Budget 2013-2014 was tabled in the newly elected 14th National Assembly on June 12, 2013 and was passed on June 28, 2013 lasting for 17 actual working days. Comparing it with the 13th National Assembly of Pakistan, the 14th National Assembly Pakistan has a slight edge of 24 % increase over the average 14 working days devoted for budget debate during the 5 year term of the previous Assembly.

The 14th National Assembly spent 33 hours and 3 minutes debating the Budget 2013-2014, which represents 8 % decrease compared to the average 36 hours and 51 minutes of the 13th National Assembly; the 13th National Assembly spent 41 hours and 46 minutes during its first Budget Session in June 2008, 42 hours in its second Budget Session in June 2009, 39 hours in its third Budget session in June 2010, 35 hours during the fourth Budget Session in June 2011 and 25 hours during its fifth and final Budget session in June 2012.

Out of these 33 hours and 3 minutes of the Budget 2013-2014 debate, the treasury benches in the 14th National Assembly consumed 13 hours and 42 minutes while the opposition members spent 19 hours and 21 minutes, which is 32 % more than the time given to the treasury benches for debating the Budget 2013-2014.

A total of 135 Members of the National Assembly participated in the budget debate in June 2013. This represents a reduction of 20 % compared to the 13th National Assembly of Pakistan where, on the average, 169 Members participated in each of the five budget sessions. 229 Members had participated in debate on the first Budget 2008-2009; 170 during debate on budget 2009-2010; 161 during debate on the Budget 2010-2011, 139 on Budget 2011-2012 and 147 on budget 2012-2013.

Mr. Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan and Leader of the House, attended two out of 13 sittings of the Budget Session 2013-2014 whereas the Leader of the Opposition attended all the sittings.

The Speaker chaired around 60% of the proceedings during the Budget session while the Deputy Speaker and the Panel of the Chairpersons chaired remaining 40% proceedings of the House.

41 MNAs from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spoke for 8 hours and 32 minutes (Average 12 minutes per member) during the Budget Session 2013 followed by 20 MNAs from Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamentarian (PPPP) who spoke for 7 hours and 53 minutes (Average 24 minutes per member). 20 MNAs of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) consumed 5 hours and 10 minutes (Average 16 minutes per member). 14 MNAs belonging to Muttahidda Quami Movement (MQM) spoke for 3 hours and 46 Minutes (Average 16 minutes per member). 10 Members from Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Fazlur Rehman (JUI-F) took 2 hours debating on Federal Budget (Average 12 minutes per member) while Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), with its two members in National Assembly, consumed one hour and one minute (Average 30 minutes per member) on Budget debate. 4 members of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) took 56 minutes (Average 14 minutes per member) to debate Federal Budget. Mr. Muhammad Ijaz ul Haq, the lone MNA of Pakistan Muslim League Zia (PML-Z), consumed 36 minutes followed by Mr. Aftab Khan Sherpao, Chairman of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP), who spent 35 minutes on Federal Budget 2013-2014 debate. 3 MNAs from Pakistan Muslim League Functional (PML-F) consumed 28 Minutes (Average 9 minutes per member) on Budget Debate. Awami National Party (ANP), with its single MNA, consumed 19 minutes. Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Chairman of the Awami Pakistan Muslim League (APML), spared 29 minutes to debate Federal Budget 2013-2014 while Sardar Kamal Khan Bangulzai, the lone MNA from the National Party (NP) spoke on the Federal Budget for 7 minutes only.

PML-N commands 184 out of 323 or 57 % seats in the 14th National Assembly. However, only 41 PML-N MNAs participated in the budget debate who constitute 30% of the total members who participated in the budget debate. Out of the other 4 largest parties in the Assembly, 23 % of the total participants in the budget debate belonged to PPPP which has about 13 % representation in the assembly. 15 % of the total participants in the budget debate belonged to PTI which has about 9 % representation in the assembly, 10 % of the total participants in the budget debate belonged to MQM which has about 7 % representation in the assembly, 7 % of the total participants in the budget debate belonged to JUI (F) which has about 4 % representation in the assembly.

Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, MNA Leader of the Opposition (NA-199, Sukkur-Cum-Shikarpur(II)(Old Sukkur-II), Sindh, PPPP) took the lead among all members to speak for the longest duration during the Federal Budget 2013-2014 debate and spoke for one hour and 32 Minutes. He was followed by Mr. Ahsan Iqbal, MNA, Federal Minister for Planning and Development (NA-117, Narowal-III, Punjab, PML-N) who spent 55 minutes to debate the Federal Budget. Mr. Muhammad Ijaz Ul Haq, MNA (NA-191, Bahawalnagar-IV, Punjab, PML-Z) consumed 36 minutes while Syed Naveed Qamar Shah, MNA (NA-222, Tando Muhammad Khan-Cum-Hyderabad-Cum-Badin (Hyderabad-V), Sindh, PPPP), Dr. Fehmida Mirza, MNA (NA-225, Badin-Cum-Tando Muhammad Khan-II(Old Badin-II), Sindh, PPPP) and Mr. Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, MNA (NA-8, Charsadda-II, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, QWP) spent 35 minutes each debating on federal budget. Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, MNA (NA-266, Nasirabad, Balochistan, PML-N) spared 30 minute; Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, MNA (NA-55, Rawalpindi-VI, Punjab, AMLP) consumed 29 minutes debating Federal Budget 2013-14 and Ch. Nisar Ali Khan, MNA Federal Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control (NA-52, Rawalpindi-III, Punjab, PML-N), spoke for 28 minutes during the debate.

More than 750 cut motions were introduced by the opposition members during the debate on Budget 2013-2014 against 53 demands for grants allocated to 8 ministries including the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Industries and Production, Ministry of Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Water and Power, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources and Cabinet Secretariat. Overall 45 members debated the cut-motions for nearly two days. The PTI and the PPPP members shared their views on cut motions for more than one hour each. The average cut motions introduced during all 5 Budget Sessions of the 13th National Assembly were 597. Therefore, the 14th National Assembly marks an increase of 21 % in the number of cut motions introduced by its members during the Federal Budget 2013-2014.

The Senate submitted a total of 113 recommendations on the Federal Budget 2013-2014 for consideration by the National Assembly. Ten (10) MNAs discussed Senate�s recommendations for over an hour in National Assembly and the National Assembly incorporated 21 recommendations of the Senate in the Federal Budget 2013-2014.