Federal Budget Coalition Talks: President Zardari Demands Welfare Priority and Provincial Rights in PM Meet

ISLAMABAD — Amid local media reports highlighting deep structural differences between political allies over taxation policies, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held a pivotal consultative session at the PM House last night. President Zardari strongly stressed the need to harmonize macroeconomic growth targets with public welfare schemes and provincial development funds in the upcoming FY2026-27 budget. The high-level meeting is part of final efforts to present a unified front on Wednesday, as the IMF pushes Pakistan to introduce an additional Rs430 billion ($1.5 billion) worth of stringent taxation measures alongside matching resource mobilization from all four provinces.