PPP accuses PML-N of pursuing populist budget ahead of polls, terms its 'unrealistic'

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) criticised its coalition government partner, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), on Friday, accusing them of presenting an "unrealistic" and "election-oriented" budget.

The PPP also questioned the PML-N's motives for this "populist" action during a time of economic uncertainty.

During a budget debate in the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, PPP's Nafeesa Shah criticised the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government, stating that while they promised tough decisions, no such measures were revealed in the budget presented to lawmakers.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, on June 9, presented a budget of Rs14.5 trillion (approximately $50.5 billion), allocating over half of it to service a debt of Rs7.3 trillion. This has raised concerns among multiple stakeholders regarding the future of the economy.

“An economic storm is looming over our heads,” she warned, lamenting that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is pressurising Pakistan and the economy will be in more trouble in the coming days.

Committee Chairman Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh regretted that despite his important position, he wasn’t briefed, “even asked for a briefing about IMF matters but wasn’t given any update.”

Highlighting the issues which were still unaddressed, the chairman said that no action was taken against those banks which subjected businessmen to injustice and refrained from opening letters of credit (LCs) due to which containers are stuck are ports and those who manipulated the dollar rate.

FinMin Dar defends finance bill

At the outset of the hearing, the committee expressed displeasure over the absence of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. “I don’t know what problem the finance minister has with this committee,” Sheikh said, adding that the entire business community was present in the meeting with their business proposals.

However, Dar arrived at the meeting later and briefed the committee about the federal budget for the fiscal year 2023-24.

The finance minister cited the delay in talks with the IMF major reason behind the delay in the preparation of the budget strategy paper.

“Even if this wouldn’t have been an election year the budget would have remained the same,” he said in response to the complaints registered by the PPP leader.

Dar claimed that the tax targets had been set according to the inflation and growth rate. He also told the NA panel that a report had been sought from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman.