The government on Wednesday said it would bring down fiscal deficit to 5 percent by end of the year from existing 8.5 percent and increase wages of the government employees to provide them some compensation for the rising prices of essential commodities.
"It is the previous government which is responsible for inflation. The huge borrowing by previous government for budget has also contributed greatly to inflation by increasing money supply in the market", Ports and Shipping Minister Naveed Qamar responded to the criticism while winding up debate on price-hike in the Senate.
Shedding light on fiscal situation, he said the budget has completely been distorted and was being supported by borrowing hugely from the SBP. He said Rs 250 billion is being spent by the government on subsidies that could not be sustained for a long period.
"We are taking measures to control budget deficit and are committed to bringing down it as close to 5 percent of the GDP," Qamar said. For the purpose, he said, it was decided to cut down the expenses of all the government departments and review the development projects, not yet completed despite provision of substantial allocations.
Despite these challenges, the minister assured the house that the government is committed to addressing the problem of price-hike of essential commodities and would bring them to the reach of common man.
The minister said the present government that has come into power with a mandate to resolve the problems of the people is committed to fulfilling the promise it had made with the masses. "We will devise short, medium and long-term policies to overcome price-hike of essential commodities", he added.
Qamar said it is not the time for blame game but the difficult situation required some hard measures to focus agriculture sector. He said the government would take measures to ensure timely supply of inputs to the growers and would also announce timely support price of the commodities. This would encourage the growers to produce more.
"Stringent measures would be taken to curb hoarding and smuggling of wheat and flour", he said, adding the inter-provincial ban would be removed once the borders are secured against smuggling.
Naveed Qamar said the government has also taken notice of the rice price-hike and it has been decided to fix minimum export price of the commodity to ensure its supply in the local market at reasonable prices. He said the government employees, who are facing greater hardships due to unprecedented price-hike, would be duly compensated in the next budget by giving them substantial financial relief.
He said a special scheme would also be launched in the next budget for the poor people to give them relief so that they could meet the challenge of price-hike. The minister said that speculation along rising oil and food prices have been responsible for depreciation of Pak rupee against US dollar with assuring "the government is fully cognisant to the situation and will take measures to address the problem". Qamar sought suggestions from the members to control price-hike.
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