Pakistan: Imran Khan rejects budget for new fiscal year as 'anti-people, anti-business'

Islamabad [Pakistan], June 11 : In another act of contempt towards the Shehbaz Sharif-led Pakistan government, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan rejected the budget for the new fiscal year presented by the incumbent government, calling it "anti-people" and "anti-business".
"We reject this anti-people & anti-business budget presented by imported govt," Khan tweeted, saying it is based on "unrealistic assumptions" on inflation and economic growth.
"Budget is based on unrealistic assumptions on inflation(11.5 per cent) and economic growth(5 per cent). Today's SPI of 24 per cent indicates that inflation will be between 25/30 per cent which on the one hand will destroy the common man," he said continuing the thread on Twitter, Dawn reported.
Imran went on to say that weekly inflation, as measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), came in at about 24pc which also indicates that inflation will be between 25-30pc. It will not only destroy the common man but on the other hand, also retard economic growth due to high-interest rates.
All tax reforms and pro-poor programmes introduced during the PTI government had been shelved, he said lambasting at Shehbaz governmnet.
"It is an unimaginative, Purana (old) Pakistan budget creating more burdens and misery for the nation," the PTI chief added.
Meanwhile, Former energy minister Hammad Azhar did not also hesitate to take a dig at Shehbaz's government as he termed the budget, not of special importance and painted a gloomy picture of the country's economic performance under the incumbent coalition government, saying that inflation would rise by 2-3pc while the GDP growth rate would fall from 6pc to 2-3pc.
He served as the finance minister for a short period of time during the PTI government's tenure.
Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail had presented the budget for the upcoming fiscal year in the National Assembly. During his speech, he said the government had to move towards "sustainable growth".
For Financial Year 23, the overall deficit is budgeted at Rs 3,798 billion, which is 4.9pc of the GDP. Last year, the deficit was budgeted at 6.3pc of the GDP, said Dawn, citing reports.
Pakistan's inflation rate spiralled to 13.76 per cent in May, the highest in two-and-half-year.
Inflation has been high for a number of years now but the latest round owes in no small manner to Islamabad's own peculiar decision-making process.
Previously, Shaukat Tarin's first budget as PTI's Finance Minister, which suddenly departed from IMF prescription, contradicted SBP's tight monetary policy and took a very expansionary fiscal position while also creating false expectations and made investors lock deals that had to be rolled back.
The decision to freeze petrol prices in February, for purely political considerations, inflated the current account deficit and also stalled the bailout program.
The new Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led Shehbaz Sharif government, too, did not help matters with its own paralysis. It delayed the decision to raise prices to prevent a political backlash, only to bow to the inevitable after losing precious time.