LAHORE, June 16: Workers have described the new federal budget as disappointing and an attempt to camouflage the government failures through verbal jugglery.

Pakistan Labour Party secretary-general Tariq Farooq said in a statement that the public sector deficit of Rs134.44 billion during 2001-2 was a clear proof of the economic mismanagement and belied the tall claims of Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz that the economy was gaining stability.

He said that imposition of 15 per cent General Sales Tax on sugar, vegetable ghee, cooking oil and other basic requirements was a proof of the government apathy towards the miserable economic plight of the poor and the fixed income groups. Reduction in customs duty was a concession for the rich who were the major customers of cars and other imported luxuries.

He said that the budget was tailor-made to meet the IMF and World Bank requirements but the finance minister had claimed in vain that the government was not acting on the dictates of the two international “mahajans”. He said that privatization and private sector promotion would increase the already alarming unemployment further.

PWC:Speakers at a meeting of the Pakistan Workers Confederation, Punjab Branch, held at Bakhtiar Labour Hall here on Sunday accused Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz of completely ignoring the workers and poor masses in the new federal budget and pampering the rich.

Confederation chairman Chaudhry Talib Nawaz said that the very fact that the finance minister had chosen to deliver the budget speech in English indicated that he was not presenting the budget for the people of Pakistan but the World Bank and the IMF.

Confederation Secretary-General Kaukab Iqbal said that by imposing the GST on sugar, ghee, cooking oil and other essential commodities the finance minister had rubbed salt into the wounds of the poor and the fixed income groups finding difficult to survive in their shrinking incomes.

Confederation President Gulzar Chaudhry said that the workers and fixed income groups had been completely ignored in the budget. Instead of announcing an increase in pay and allowances of workers, government employees and pensioners or steps for reduction in cost of living for the common man, the finance minister had announced customs duty concessions to facilitate import of cars and other luxuries for the rich at reduced rates. Agha Badrul Islam Abdali and Malik Noor Muhammad said that the government should realize that no country in the world had achieved economic prosperity by acting upon the dictates of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which had been established to exploit the developing countries in the garb of providing financial assistance for development. Both the institutions would be wound up in case the developing countries attained economic independence.