ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda Tuesday said the present government presented a balance and people friendly fiscal budget 2019-20 in difficult circumstances.

Talking to a private news channel, he said salaries of ministers had been curtailed while defense budget reduced in this budget.

He said poor people would not affect from this budget because the government had allocated Rs217 billion to provide subsidize on electricity to the consumers.

He said the opposition had made hue and cry in the Parliament during the budget speech for only protecting the corruption of their leadership.

Faisal Vawda said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had created agitation in the Parliament on directives on Maryam Nawaz but opposition should keep in their minds that Prime Minister Imran Khan would not allow any kind of NRO to anyone.

Replying to a question, he said the prime minister bears his expenditures from his own pocket and the government had adopted austerity measures to control unnecessary expenditures.

The incumbent government was taking concrete steps to strengthen national economy which was badly destroyed in the previous governments of the PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), he added.

He said the government was striving to strengthen national economy as some hard decisions were being taken for the purpose. Previous governments had left fragile economy and huge burden of loans for new government, he added.

To another question, he said National Accountability Bureau was an independent institution which was working and performing its duties without any pressure and interference.