Zubair Qureshi
The federal capital’s business community, while expressing serious concerns over the Budget 2023-24 announced by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar a day earlier, called it a temporary arrangement by the federal government and feared there were a number of mini budgets in the pipeline.
In a statement Chairman of Pakistan Chemists & Druggists Association (PCDA) Punjab, Zahid Bakhtawari said people were already under the immense burden of inflation which is currently at 38 per cent and unbearable cost of living. Our economy has already shrunk and it would have been better if the government had announced austerity measures and started that drive from the Parliament by reducing their expenses.
The additional expenses of the Members of Parliament should be cut down. About the circular debt, he said it was at an all-time high and the biggest question mark was how it would be repaid. Due to these uncertain conditions, the prices of food items have increased at 48 per cent. Bakhtawari further said there was no clear roadmap given in the budget.
He warned that the people were already fed up with mini budgets and this time they would not accept any such thing in the name of the repayments or on the conditions of the IMF or the World Bank.
Sheikh Siddique, Chaudhry Iqbal and Khawaja Asad also expressed their doubts on the “tall claims of the finance minister” and said it was an election budget by all means.
The increase in ad-hoc relief for the government employees was a good decision but only a 17.5 percent increase in pension was a joke with the pensioners.
By setting an example of saving and simplicity, additional expenses of the members of parliament, federal ministers should be reduced, demanded they. The government does not have any effective tax collection mechanism and the public no longer trust the rulers, they said.
