Govt negotiating ‘mini budget’ with IMF: Rabbani

ISLAMABAD: Former chairman Senate Senator Mian Raza Rabbani on Monday said that a ‘mini budget’, being negotiated during talks with IMF, would eventually lead to anarchy.

Reacting to media reports, Rabbani said the government was trying to renegotiate downward the collection targets that form a part of IMF agreement, which was signed behind closed door while keeping the people and the Parliament blind to its conditions. He maintained that the ‘mini budget’ as consequence of these IMF negotiations would further break the back of the common man and would eventually lead to anarchy. “It is expected that a burden of Rs200 billion new taxes would be unloaded and there would be increase in power and gas tariffs,” he noted.

During the negotiations with IMF, he said that it had been warned that such packages would lead to economic anarchy and political destabilization because the price burden on edible commodities had now reached a level that the common man could not even have one square meal.

“In such a situation, it is necessary that the government renegotiates a new agreement with IMF, if required, which is ratified by the Parliament. In these circumstances, the government should immediately announce the new NFC, the provision of the Energy Policy which calls for deduction from the share of the provinces in NFC is condemned and will not be accepted,” he emphasized.