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| June 3, 2005 | Friday | Rabi-us-Sani 25, 1426 |
Govt accused of fudging economic figures
ISLAMABAD, June 2: People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) legislators and renowned economists of the country have criticized the economic policies of the government and accused it of manipulating figures to mislead the people about the state of economy.
Speaking at a “pre-budget seminar” organized by the economic coordination cell of the PPP here on Thursday, they said due to wrong policies of the regime, there had been a record increase in the population of those living below the poverty line.
MNA and former privatization minister Syed Naveed Qamar said the government had itself admitted that there had been an increase of one per cent in the unemployed population of the country. He expressed concern over the increase in defence expenditure and decrease in resources for provision of health and education facilities to the people.
Mr Qamar said trade deficit was constantly increasing at a time when the country was about to enter the WTO regime.
He said the rulers had been claiming for the past five years that economy would soon take off, but it had never happened.
Renowned economist Qaiser Bengali said the economy had to suffer in every military rule. He said Dr Mehboobul Haq, the finance minister of a military dictator, had signed the structural reforms agreement with the International Monetary Fund, making it binding on all the succeeding governments to follow its (IMF) dictates.
He said there had been an increase of seven million in the number of those living below the poverty line since the 1999 military takeover. He regretted that due to poor economic conditions, people had started killing their children and family members before committing suicide. He also lashed out at the rulers for increasing their own expenditures.
Mr Bengali said the government had manipulated the data and statistics. He said the economic managers had wrongly been claiming that the benefits of the improved economy would soon trickle down to the common man. He also criticized the privatization policy and said the PTCL employees were struggling to safeguard the national interests.
MNA Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the government had failed to finalize the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award and the forthcoming budget would be unconstitutional if it was presented without finalizing the NFC Award.
He called for increasing resources of the provinces for bringing an improvement in the agriculture sector. He said the country had good cotton crop last year but it was due to favourable climate and the government had no contribution for it. He said the government had crippled small farmers, adding that Gen Musharraf had announced several incentives for the farmers but these were never implemented.
Senator Akbar Khawaja said the State Bank in its third quarterly report had contradicted the prime minister’s claim that the growth rate had reached 8.3 per cent.
Another economist Farrukh Salim presented a comparison of prices of various items in the governments of Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and Gen Musharraf. He said the government’s wrong policies had caused record inflation.
PPP President Makhdoom Amin Fahim presided over the seminar and MNA Sherry Rehman conducted the proceedings. Opposition Leader in the Senate Raza Rabbani, Enver Baig, Farhatullah Babar, Dr Abdullah Riar, Nabil Gabol, former finance minister Ihsanul Haq Piracha, Fauzia Habib, Naheed Khan and Safdar Abbasi were also present.
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