ISLAMABAD: The lawmakers in the National Assembly on Tuesday called for more relief to the common man in the budget, saying a balanced budget is the need of the hour as skyrocketing inflation, fuel price hike coupled with other factors directly affect the poor.

While participating in the debate on Finance Bill, 2022-23, they said that the poor segment of the society has pinned high hopes on the budget, as they needed relief to make both ends meet.

Shahnaz Baloch of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) proposed the government to purchase petroleum products from Iran at a cheaper rate as compared to other international markets to give relief to the masses.

She said that the government should pay special attention to Gwadar deep seaport which will benefit the people of the area, adding the slow pace of work on development projects in Gwadar by successive governments is the reason for the delay in completion of the international airport in the city among other projects. Riazul Haq of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said that it was quite a reasonable budget at such a difficult time when the previous government had left everything in a complete mess.

He said that implementing the budget proposals in letter and spirit could improve the situation significantly. He also demanded the government to take stringent measures to overcome the Rs50 billion deficit of Pakistan Railways and Rs100 billion deficit of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

Shamsunnisa of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) regretted the coalition government’s inaction to resolve the water shortage in Sindh, adding the issue must be resolved on war footing and steps should also be taken to promote drip irrigation system in Sindh especially, Thatta.

Tahira Aurangzeb of the PML-N lauded the budget proposal of paying interest-free loans amounting to Rs100,000 to Rs400,000 to the youth for starting their own business.

She said that from Rs400,000 to one million would be given to youth at the rate of three percent by the government for the same purpose. She said that it was also announced that from Rs1 million to Rs10 million would be given to the youth at the rate of four percent for setting up businesses and that move would help in ending the unemployment in the country. In addition to these measures, she disclosed that some 100,000 trained youth would also be provided jobs.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F)’s Kamaluddin said that the government had announced a balanced budget despite, a difficult economic situation.

“It was unfortunate that various national institutions were running in losses due to bad economic policies of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government,” he added.

He was of the view that approaching the International Monitory Fund (IMF) was a difficult decision for the government, adding the bitter pill had to be swallowed for the sake of the masses.

Qasim Noon, a PTI dissident said that he was all praise for the coalition government, saying there could have been no better budget at a time when the economy was in the doldrums.

He said that political stability was a pre-requisite for economic progress, prosperity, and development, adding no economic progress was possible without political stability.

“Incentives for the agriculture sector and withdrawal of taxes on agriculture inputs will have a positive impact on this important sector,” he said.

PPP’s Naz Baloch said that it was unfortunate that Pakistan started importing wheat instead of exporting due to the wrong policies of the previous government.

She lauded the government for withdrawing the general sales tax (GST) on fertilizers and seeds to ensure the provision of agriculture input to farmers at cheaper rates.

PML-N’s Ali Zahid asked the international community to take action against BJP leaders, who were involved in hurling derogatory remarks about Holy Prophet (PBUH).

He said that despite a difficult economic situation the government had announced a people- and a business-friendly budget.

He criticized the PTI government for ignoring the interest of the common man and said that the people of the country would reject them in the general elections.

Sajid Mehdi of the PML-N said that all the political parties should sit together and devise a common strategy to put the country on the path of development. He urged the government to take concrete steps for the development of the agriculture sector, saying the farmer community must not be ignored at all costs.

Another PML-N MNA Ayesha Rajab Ali demanded the government to establish a university campus, a girls’ college, and upgrade the tehsil headquarters hospital in Tandlianwala. MNAs Mussarat Mahesar, Shakila Luqman, Zeb Jaffer, and others also took part in the budget debate.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022