ISLAMABAD, June 19: The Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) said the federal government’s budget for 2002-03 had failed to provide any relief to consumers because its whole thrust was on benefiting investors.

The CRCP said the budget was devoid of any consumer welfare component and offered no relief to the poor consumers who had been hit hard by the increasing prices of utilities and food items. The government has failed to increase the spending on health and education or revise the salaries of government servants. The CRCP however welcomed the increase in allocation for the poverty reduction programme, according to a press release issued here on Wednesday.

CRCP general secretary Mian Abrar Hafeez, while criticizing the budget priorities, said that the government had ignored the problems of the common man. He said the CRCP was cognizant of the need for incentives for investment, but an exclusive focus on creating opportunities for investment could not be welcomed either. He said an investment-friendly budget had the potential to benefit the people in the long run, but this strategy must be considered within a broader framework of consumer protection.

Mr Abrar said the CRCP was not against levying GST on non- perishable items, but opposed the unjust way in which it was being levied. The rate of tax should be determined by taking into account the average income of people, he remarked.

In the budget, the government has increased the duty on edible oilseeds from five to 10 percent and on chilies from 10 to 20 percent. A new tax many increase the prices of edible oil and Ghee by more than three rupees per kilogram. The cumulative effect of inflation and new taxes would lead to exorbitant increase in the prices of these items, he maintained. The 20 percent GST has been extended to as many as 190 items including edible oils, talc, solvent oil and calcium carbonate at a time when high utility charges have already affected the nutritional level of low-income classes, he added.

The CRCP general secretary said that the government had not revised the salary package of government servants despite the fact that the finance minister had pledged in his last budget speech that government servants would get a raise in the Budget 2002-03. The Pay and Pension Committee had recommended last year that salaries should be increased in two phases. In the first phase, salaries were increased by 50 percent for BS-1 to 16 and by 60 percent for BS-17 to 22 as against the consumer price index (CPI) differential of 75 percent from 1995 to 2001. The balance was to be adjusted in the second phase, which, however, has not been actuated.

Even in the first phase, lower staff did not get much relief due to withdrawal of certain allowances. He said that an increase in their salary package was urgently needed in view of the fact that prices of essential items and utilities had increased exorbitantly during the previous year and would further increase as a consequence of the measures adopted in this budget.

While commenting on the spending on social sector, he said the government was ignoring vital sectors such as education and health. He pointed out that the allocation for education sector had just been fractionally increased in the budget for 2002-03. An amount of Rs2.6 billion has been earmarked for the education sector in the budget as against Rs2.5 billion allocated last year.

However, Mr Abrar appreciated the fact that allocation for poverty alleviation programme had been raised by Rs17 billion, from Rs119 billion for 2001-02 to Rs136 billion for 2002-03.