LAHORE: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) terms the budget anti-masses, which will set in motion a storm of price-hike and unemployment.

Punjab chapter president Qamar Zaman Kaira and general secretary Chaudhry Manzoor said in a joint statement here on Tuesday that the federal budget would prove to be a nightmare for the poor as it would generate a storm of inflation and joblessness.

They said the ‘incompetent’ government has pushed the people into a quagmire of inflation and economic destruction. They said hiking prices of kitchen items is the worst cruelty with the poor and warned the PTI-led government that it would have to face its consequences.

They said taxing meat, chicken, milk, bakery items and cigarette was like strangulating the poor.

AWP: The Awami Workers Party has rejected the budget as anti-masses as the government has shifted the tax burden on to the poor masses to qualify for loans from world lending agencies.

In a statement, its spokesperson Farooq Tariq said the capitalists were given subsidies and concessions in the budget while the poor were made to bear extra direct and indirect tax burden.

He also rejected the increase in minimum wages of labour and said that it should have been fixed at least at Rs30,000 per month. Likewise, 10 per cent increase in the pension of public sector employees was also meagre as it should be at least 30pc in view of the current inflation.

The AWP criticised new taxes worth Rs147 billion and the logic given to raise levies on kitchen items.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2019