The Pakistan Economy Watch on Wednesday claimed that the budget would never improve the investment climate and shrink the industrial base while promoting tax evasion and flight of capital. "Industrialists would prefer trading, real estate and construction sectors over industrial expansion while many will relocate or simple transfer funds abroad bringing rupee under pressure," the Watch said.
"The government has done nothing in the budget to encourage investment in industrial sector or reverse the trend among the businessmen to prefer trading over industry," said Watch President Doctor Murtaza Mughal. "The new tax measures, GIDC and petrol price hike will contract growth and the package for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will remain counterproductive because law and order situation would discourage investors. Banks will continue to prefer forwarding loans to the government as discourage private sector in absence of any directions to them. The government has claimed reduction in unemployment and provision of 2.5 million jobs is the new fiscal which is baseless, he said, adding that creation of new jobs require minimum of seven percent growth rate."