ISLAMABAD: Terming it an “Instagrammable budget” and accusing Finance Minister Ishaq Dar of figure fudging of Rs1 trillion in the amount of interest payments, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has claimed that first time in Pakistan’s history the amount of interest on loans has surpassed the expected revenue of the government due to which nation should anticipate a series of mini and micro budgets in the upcoming financial year.

The PTI has alleged that some of the announcements, such as salary increase, have been made to retain the vote bank, but only a nominal increase has been proposed for Benazir Income Support Programme.

PTI leader Hammad Azhar said that all targets in the budget were artificial and not realistic like last year, besides finance minister did not outline any plan to reduce inflation or to save the sinking economy.

In reaction to Ishaq Dar’s budget speech on Friday, Mr Azhar said: “All targets in this budget are artificial and not realistic like last year.” He said that targets regarding economic growth, tax collection, inflation rate, imports and remittances were written only to balance the budget, as they had nothing to do with reality.

Similarly, he alleged that there was a figure fudging of Rs1tr in the amount of interest payments and non-tax revenue. He stated that the finance minister did not outline any plan to reduce inflation or save the sinking economy, as the industrial production fell by 25pc in the last two months due to the ban on the import of raw materials and the shrinking economy.

“The budget has a new external debt target of $8.5bn but this would not be possible without the IMF, while the PDM government seems in no mood for effective decision making because they do not care about the economy, as they are only concerned about PTI Chairman Imran Khan,” he added.

‘Instagrammable budget’

Party’s financial expert Muzammil Aslam, while talking to Dawn, said that it was nothing but an “Instagrammable budget with filters on”.

“It is going to be first time in the history that the liabilities of interest on loans will be more than the total income/revenue of the country. Some of the steps such as 35pc increase in salaries and 17.5pc increase in pensions have been announced for the vote bank.

On the other hand, the most important Ehsaas Programme [BISP] has been ignored as the amount allocated for it has been only increased from Rs400 billion to Rs450 billion,“ he said. Mr Aslam claimed that there will be a series of mini and micro budgets and the new government will be left with no choice but to revise the budget.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2023