Government draws opposition’s flak over budget

Opposition MPs call it ‘directionless and unrealistic’

ISLAMABAD: On the first day of the parliamentary debate on the finance bill 2016-17, the opposition on Monday accused the government of fudging figures, exaggerating economic gains and ‘presenting an unrealistic and directionless budget’. The government also drew flak on what the opposition called its ‘flawed economic priorities’.

In the National Assembly, lawmakers on the treasury benches were seemingly least interested in speeches of their peers from the opposition benches on the federal budget for fiscal year 2016-17. Initially, the house was prorogued for nearly 45 minutes for lack of quorum, but MPs, especially those on treasury benches, started leaving the house when it reconvened.



Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was present when Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah opened the debate. And throughout Shah’s speech Dar kept on asking him to ‘correct the record’. “We fail to understand whether the budget is pro-farmer, pro-public or pro-labour,” Shah said. “The economic plan for the new fiscal year is directionless as there is no focus on specific areas.”

Shah, who had come prepared in the house, reminded Dar of the promises he had made in his previous budget speeches of banishing the energy crisis by building new dams.

“Where is the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower plant? Where is the Chashma nuclear plant? Your government had promised these projects in the budget for fiscal year 2013-14,” he asked. “And what about the Kashmir railway line which was to be laid between Islamabad and Muzaffarabad?”

Before the 2013 parliamentary election, the PML-N had promised that it would overcome the chronic energy crisis soon after coming to power. “Now, they [government leaders] are telling us load-shedding will end in 2018,” Shah said. “I’m sure it will not happen even after 2018.”

The opposition leader also criticised the government’s ‘failed’ tax amnesty scheme, saying that in order to cover up its failure the government has taken to withholding tax, sales tax and other similar taxes. Moreover, he said that 40% of Pakistan’s population was associated with agriculture – but the sector was willfully ‘destroyed’. He demanded sales tax exemption for tractors to give peasants some relief.



Shah also challenged the government’s claim of 5.5%GDP growth rate, saying that according to the calculations of independent economists and experts the economy grew at a pace of 3.5% during the fiscal year 2015-16. He suggested that the government complete the ongoing development projects instead of promising new ones.

After Shah’s speech, Dr Farooq Sattar of the MQM also criticised the government for its ‘flawed policies’ and ‘unrealistic budget’. The session was adjourned till 11 am on Tuesday.

Senate debate

In the upper house of parliament, there was a clear division between the government and the opposition on opening the budget debate. The government painted a rosy picture calling the budget the ‘best possible in the given circumstances’, while the opposition claimed there was nothing in the budget for the common man.

“The Achilles heel of the budget is agriculture,” said PML-Q Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed while questioning the government’s priorities. He referred to the government’s move, shot down by the opposition particularly in the Senate, to shut down the National Agriculture Research Council (NARC). It was the Senate which had intercepted CDA’s attempt to convert 1,400 acres of land of the premier agricultural research centre into commercial plots.



“What are our priorities?” he questioned, saying that the budget had no substantial initiatives for youth despite the fact that 65% of Pakistan’s population is below the age of 30.

He said there was no attention towards reforms in the FBR or to curb corruption since billons of rupees were being stashed abroad by the corrupt. “The IMF and the World Bank are tried and tested recipes of failure,” he added.

Senator Nauman Wazir from the PTI simply rejected the government’s tall claims of growth and said: “We have to hit 11 to 12% growth if we want this country to come out of economic troubles.”

He said the government’s claims and initiatives to broaden the tax net amounted to nothing but ‘lip service’ since the number had decreased from 1.6 million taxpayers to 0.96 million over the years. “It’s strange that one million people are not ready to pay taxes in a population of 195 million,” he said, adding it was because of the FBR and government’s policies.



Talking about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, he said that we had done the biggest bargain ever as we still have not decided the rate of the toll to be collected from Chinese. Senator Ahmad Hassan from the PPP said that the smaller provinces were being denied their share in the CPEC and that “we will continue to raise our voice against this injustice.” Ilyas Bilour from the ANP expressed similar views about the CPEC and warned against the dangers to the federation.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2016.