Budget offers nothing to revive economy, says Shahbaz

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Leader of Opposition in National Assembly and PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif has said the budget 2020-21 by the PTI government offers nothing to revive the economy.

He said from 2013 to 2018, the PML-N built power plants, motorways, schools, medical colleges, universities, hospitals, ports, airports and hydro projects. “In short, under Nawaz Sharif’s leadership, we built Pakistan,” he said, adding that where the money went under the PTI government.

He asked where are development expenditures to create jobs and cause growth? The government should have come up with increased PSDP funding and innovative programmes to redress increasing unemployment and poverty. Instead, the PSDP budget has been decreased from Rs 701 billion to Rs 650 billion. The social protection budget in the coming year has also been reduced from Rs 245 billion to Rs 230 billion even though Covid-19 is likely to persist.

He said large scale manufacturing is down by 7.8pc. Yet the budget has no plans to revive the manufacturing sector. This was a time when reduction in the sales tax and duties was warranted. He went on to say that agricultural output decreased by 2.9pc last year and one cannot logically blame Covid-19 for that. The reduction in cotton of 6.9pc will further decrease textile exports. The government says it will collect 27pc or Rs 1,050 billion more in taxes but doesn’t say how it will do that. “Mark my words: there will be a mini-budget and this PTI government will try to raise taxes through backdoor. This budget has nothing for the poor and the working class and does nothing to revive the economy,” Shahbaz maintained.

Meanwhile, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the “PTIMF” budget was a tsunami for the economy, agriculture and health sectors, which may unleash a wave of poverty and famine-like conditions in the country if not resisted by the entire nation.

“The policies of the selected PTI government were akin to taking revenge on the people for questioning its legitimacy, as its federal budget exercise exposed both its callousness and indifference to the urgent needs of the people at such a delicate time for both lives and livelihoods,” he said while addressing a meeting of the PPP lawmakers from Senate and National Assembly here at Zardari House through video link.

Bilawal said it is obvious that budget proposals have ignored the COVID-19 pandemic, locust attack and the wellbeing of healthcare professionals, the needs of the salaried class, pensioners and poverty-ridden people.

“This budget should have given incentives to pensioners to stay home but by not increasing their pensions, or being sensitive to the real needs of the poor it claims to champion, it has tried to compel them to come out in a pandemic when the world is encouraging stay home policy for all, especially the elderly,” he said.

The PTI chairman said the budget was actually for providing comfort to elite, which lacks any structural relief plan for the poor and vulnerable communities. “The PPP has already rejected the anti-poor budget and would vehemently oppose it at all elected forums also,” he added.