Aitzaz Ahsan terms budget anti-poor

ISLAMABAD: Taking part in the debate in Senate on Thursday Leader of the Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan has said the next year’s budget is anti-poor as it envisages increase in indirect taxes which adversely affects the disadvantaged segments of the society.

Terming the budgetary proposals as jugglery of words he said the government was claiming to have achieved 4.7 percent growth rate while the economic experts put the growth rate at 3.1 percent.

He said that one thousand rupee increase in the minimum wage of workers was inadequate to meet their daily requirements. He said the new budget had actually been crafted for the rich while ignoring the poor people.

Aitzaz Ahsan said the government had failed to achieve its targets in agriculture exports investment and GDP. He said the foreign remittances had witnessed an increase not because of any strategy of the government but the anti-immigrant policies of the western countries had forced overseas Pakistanis to send their money back home.