Housewives disappointed with budget 2022-23

Islamabad : After the announcement of the Federal Budget 2022-23 on Friday, not much will change for housewives who are passing through the struggle of making both ends meet every day.

While talking to ‘The News’, most of them expressed disappointment over the new budget, as they believed it offered no immediate relief to household expenses.

“We appreciate a 15 per cent increase in the salaries for public sector employees but the majority of the population works in the private sector where no increase is made in salaries for years. Whereas the prices of basic utilities are out of our budget now,” said Aima Saleem, a housewife.

Aima challenged the government’s economic experts to make her one-month budget of Rs30,000 earned by her husband. “We have to adjust monthly rent, utility bills, and fees of our three children and after that, nothing is left to buy even basic food items,” she said.

“My income has not been increased in the last five years, but prices of household items increase every day with even a tiny economic change. We were already worried because of the increase in oil prices. I hope the budget will not enhance our problems,’ said Shahida Saleem, a receptionist in a private organisation.

“There is no decrease in school fees, basic utilities, or basic food items. If such announcements were made, we could have said that household budget will be affected positively,” said Nabeela Meraj, a housewife who is a resident of G 14. “I just want to say that for us, the only indicator for improvement is decreasing in the prices of basic household items and utilities,” she added.

Highly disappointed, Farwa Husnain, a teacher in a local school, said that the majority of women don’t watch or follow budget speech or discussions. “All the impact we have, especially after this budget, would have a negative impact on our household budget. That is completely clear to us after the recent increase in oil prices.”

“What affects our household budget is the prices of commodities and bills. We fail to understand other measures which the government claims will change the lives of common people in near future,” she said. Commenting on Rs2000 relief by the Prime Minister, she termed it a joke in current situation. “That is also for the people registered with BISP. I think the government is clueless on how to manage the finances and provide relief to the general public,” she added.

Saleema Rashid, a student of economics termed the budget a matter of a number game. “There is no reality but the fact that common people are going to suffer more in the coming year and inflation will rise. Hardly any housewife can truly understand the game of indirect taxes putting a heavy burden on the household budget,” said Saleema.

On the other hand, there were PML-N supporters who had sympathies with their party leadership. “The economy was in real bad shape. We cannot expect miracles in 2 months. I am sure that things will improve with time,” said Neelum Shahzad, another housewife.

Amna Haseeb, a PMLN supporter, said that she is completely satisfied with the budget. “The government is working on many long-term projects. Look at the increased tax slab on annual income. It will have a direct impact on the overall income of the middle class. The results would be visible in the coming times. I think that in this situation, it was the best possible budget,” she said.