Opposition rejects budget

The opposition on Friday rejected the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) fourth federal budget for FY 2016-17, describing it as anti-people and a document to please the international monetary institutions. Reacting to the federal budget presented in the Parliament by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, the opposition political parties opined that the proposed indirect taxes would further increase the burden on the common man and accused the government of preparing the document on the dictation of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB).
"We plainly reject the budget for being anti-people which has nothing to offer for the common man but would add to their worries," said leader of the opposition in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah while talking to reporters at Parliament House.
He said that there was no major difference in figures of the current budget and those presented by the incumbent government in the last three fiscal years. He said that the government had completely neglected the human development and no specific programmes had been suggested in the budget document.
Referring to the 10 percent increase in salaries of government employees, the opposition leader described it as 'peanut', saying that the increase should have been given as per the price hike and inflation. Furthermore, he pointed out that the government has no specific plan to reduce unemployment in the country, adding the government needs to pay special heed to cope with the increasing unemployment in the country.
Describing the budget as disappointing, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that it contradicted government's claims to getting rid of IMF and other international monetary institutions. He said that the government failed to announce the promised support price mechanism for farmers. "The government hasn't announced any significant incentive for improvement of agriculture in the country," he said, adding the price of imported urea fertiliser already stands around the price announced in the budget.
About increase in salary of the government employees, he said the government servants would be in a better position to comment on the 10 percent increase in their salaries. Qureshi said that his party rejected the budget and would discuss it in detail in the party meeting to give an expert opinion on the new taxes levied in the budget. He said that PTI parliamentarians would also give their input and recommendations for improvement in the budget during debate in the parliament.
He further said that the budget was just compilation of a "wishful list" and no significant incentive was offered for poor people of the country. PTI's Asad Omar said that no relief had been given to common man, adding that GST had been increased and direct taxes had further been enhanced on electricity and gas, which will add to worries of the public.
"It is a successful exercise on the part of the government to please the IMF but the common man will continue to suffer," he said, adding it was the fourth budget of the PML-N government but the masses are still waiting to see a people-friendly budget. Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Farooq Sattarsaid that finance minister had made false claims of giving relief to the public in the budget as the reality was quite opposite.
He also rejected the budget, saying that th government should have slashed the general sales tax (GST) from 17 percent to 9 percent to give relief to the general public. Sattar said that oil prices had plummeted in the whole world, but the government was still not ready to abolish sales tax on petroleum products, electricity and gas.
The government had offered incentives only for industrialists, feudal lords and capitalists, he said, adding taxes should be imposed on these "mafias" instead of offering them incentives. Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Senator Sirajul Haq termed the budget as "visionless", saying that the government through the budget made a successful exercise to please IMF and WB, adding no relief was given to the people.
He stated that the country would witness an increase of 30 million in unemployment in the coming three years but the government had no vision to announce special programmes to generate employment. He pointed out that the budget also lacked any specific programme to cope with climate change which has badly hit the region and the country. However, Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz insisted that the government presented a balanced budget and financial incentives were offered to all sectors including agriculture, education, health, energy and industry.
He said that the incentives offered for industry would help increase export and employment, besides helping increase the growth rate. Aziz further said that the inflation rate was at lowest in history of the country and general public was already benefiting from it. Federal Minister for Housing and Works Akram Khan Durrani also said the government had done a great job by increasing salaries of public servants and offering them up-gradation in scales.