LAHORE: Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has warned if the mini-budget is approved, 2022 will be the worst year of inflation for the nation.

“The government wants to make parliament a rubber stamp to meet IMF requirements. The mini-budget and legislation in this regard is in fact an attack on the sovereignty of parliament, the State Bank of Pakistan, national interest and security,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

The PML-N president said if the parliament failed to stand for the interests of the people, it would not be considered a representative body of the people.

“This mini-budget is a practical interpretation of taking the entire ship to the bottom of the sea just because one fears drowning himself,” he said. The government itself drowned in the flood of public hatred and was now imprisoning the country in the cage of the IMF, he added.

“This year, an increase in the prices of petroleum products by more than Rs39 is an injustice. The price of medicines has been steadily rising over the past three years of PTI rule.”

He said the PTI government’s acknowledgement of the reduction in sugar production in the National Assembly was a denial to its earlier claims. The government’s acknowledgement of the closure of two percent of textile mills due to the gas shutdown confirmed the concerns and warnings sounded by the opposition beforehand.

He said facts, information and documentary evidence acknowledged that the economy was in shambles.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2021