QWP leader terms budget anti-people

PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) provincial Chairman Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao on Sunday criticized the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for presenting an anti-people budget for the financial year 2020-21.

In a statement, he said the federal budget did not have any relief for the people. He dismissed the impression that the budget was tax-free, adding that it was prepared on the diktats of the International Monetary Fund.

Sikandar Sherpao flayed the government for ignoring the salaried-class and the pensioners, adding that the financial problems of the people had multiplied due to the Covid-19 pandemic.He said the government did not give any incentives to the industrialists of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who have suffered huge losses due to the coronavirus lockdown. The QWP leader said the government would present mini-budget and seek loans from the banks to bridge the budget deficit.

He added the government should have reduced its expenditure. He said the government did not pass on the benefit of the decrease in the prices of the petroleum products to the people and stead increased the petroleum levy by 73 percent.

Sikandar Sherpao said the country’s foreign debt burden had increased manifold in the PTI government. He said the economy was on the verge of collapse due to the flawed policies of the rulers.