Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahbaz Gill Friday said that the budget is against the aspirations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the donor agency will not endorse it, reported the 24NewsHD TV channel.
In a video clip that went viral on social media, he said that the budget is made haphazardly and it has ignored the present 50 percent inflation index.
Reacting to the budget, Hamad Azhar who is a member of the PTI economic team alleged all targets set by the PDM-led government in the federal budget 2023-24 are “artificial and not realistic”.
Taking to Twitter, Azhar also grilled Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for presenting the pre-budget Pakistan Economic Survey 2022-23 stating that he should have also presented his resignation alongside the survey.
He said that targets set for economic growth, tax collection, inflation rate, imports, and remittances had not been written in the finance bill to balance the budget as they had “nothing to do with reality”.
The former industries minister Hammad said there “is a figure fudging of one thousand billion rupees in the number of interest payments and non-tax revenue” in the budget.
He said the incumbent finance minister did not outline any plan to reduce inflation or save the “sinking economy”.
“Industrial production fell by 25% due to the ban on the import of raw materials and a shrinking economy. No comprehensive plan was made to restore the economy,” Azhar added.
He said the budget document sought to pay off debts worth Rs8.5 billion which he said was not possible with securing the IMF bailout package.
PTI leader Asad Umar said GDP growth declined from 6.1% last year to 0.3% this year as per government statistics. “This is the biggest growth decline since 1971 for Pakistan. Add the highest inflation in the nation's history. The economic collapse is catastrophic.
This is not working. Time to rethink, reset and revive.”
Former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa finance minister and PTI leader Taimur Khan Jagra took to Twitter to criticize the federal budget.
“Budget 2023-24 PTI dreamt of a health card for every Pakistani - should have been beyond party lines. PDM tried the entire year to destroy it; stopped it for FATA; stopped it multiple times in Punjab & KP. Now Dar introduces a health card for artists only. What a comedown!”
Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on social media that the PDM-led government had failed to achieve all economic targets and criticized the rulers for runaway inflation despite a fall in international commodity prices.