'Unrealistic': PPP accuses PML-N of pushing populist budget ahead of elections

• Finance Minister Ishaq Dar defends budget proposals.
• PPP leader terms it “election-oriented budget".
• NA body chair complains about delay in budget briefing.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Friday called out its ruling partner, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), for presenting an "unrealistic” and “election-oriented budget", questioning the party’s intention behind this “populist” move despite economic uncertainty.

PPP's Nafeesa Shah, during the debate over the budget in the meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, said that Shehbaz Sharif-led government told the lawmakers that “tough decisions” would be taken in the budget; however, no such measure was unveiled.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar unveiled an Rs14.5 trillion (around $50.5 billion) budget on June 9, with over half set aside to service Rs7.3 trillion of debt, raising concerns from various stakeholders about the economy's future.

“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.

Dar defends budget

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.