PTI’s second budget is ‘fudging’ of numbers: Sherry Rehman

PPP Senator Sherry Rehman has slammed the Budget 2020-21 and termed it as ‘non-transparent’ and ‘fudging’ of numbers.

Talking to Geo News, Sherry Rehman blamed the government for issuing the budget without any input from the opposition. “For the first time in history, the demand for a grant was not provided to the lawmakers — meaning the actual budget was not shared [with the opposition]," she said.

The PPP leader said she was informed that lawmakers would be provided a copy of the budget in a floppy disk. She said that this was a good initiative but the files were provided to the MNAs during the session, which prompted them to hoot and protest.

Terming budget 2020-21 "non-transparent", she said that the opposition's input should have been sought on the document. “I am sure they will take out a rolling budget in the next three months.”

She slammed the government for taking loans much more than what the previous two predecessor governments had, and that too before the coronavirus provided a setback to the country's economy.

“We thought that they [government] would allocate substantial facilities for the health sector, which they did not,” she said, adding: “This is not a budget, but an accounting exercise — as they had taken recommendations from the International Monetary Fund.”

“This budget is an enemy of Pakistan,” she went on to add.