ISLAMABAD, June 12: The combined opposition on Thursday rejected the budget terming it anti-poor, saying it had been prepared under the guidance of the IMF and the World Bank. They also termed criticized the presentation of the budget in the Senate, saying it was unconstitutional.

This was said by opposition leaders, including Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal president Senator Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, Jamaat-i-Islami deputy chief Prof Khurshid Ahmed, People’s Party Parliamentarians leader Dr Khawaja Akbar, Senator Dr Ismail Buledi and Senator Sanaullah Baloch of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) while speaking to the newsmen at parliament house.

They said that the budget’s focus remained confined to macro-stabilization in accordance with the formulas prescribed by the IMF and World Bank, adding that no incentive had been provided for poverty alleviation, lowering the incidence of unemployment or giving relief to the common man by lowering prices of essential items.

They rejected the government’s contention regarding fiscal discipline and reduction in debt servicing expenditure as being false and mere “gimmicks.” They said that according to his calculations the “real increase” in the development outlay comes to only to 14 per cent more the previous one rather then 30 per cent.

They said the budgetary proposals had also failed to address most important agriculture sector which contributes 24 per cent of GDP and supports over 60 per cent population, doesn’t while the alarmingly increased unemployment figure of 3.5 million is also not addressed properly with arranging only 200,000 jobs through private and public sectors.