K-P traders reject budget

'Special packages have never materialised into development in tribal areas'


Our Correspondent April 30, 2018
Finance Minister Mifta Ismail. PHOTO COURTESY: INSTAGRAM @MIFTAHISMAILOFFICIAL

PESHAWAR: Traders in Peshawar expressed their disappointment with the federal budget, terming it an election stunt

“[The federal budget] does not address Pakistan’s real economic problems,” said the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) said in a statement as it termed the budget “an election campaign”

“It is not a growth-oriented budget,” said SCCI President Zahidullah Shinwari of in a news briefing. “In the budget; the SCCI could not find anything for the improvement of the economy of small provinces, especially for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa which is bearing the brunt of decades-long militancy and terrorism,” Shinwari said.

‘K-P ignored in new finance bill’


“We gave the federal government a number of suggestions for improving trade ties with Afghanistan, but none of them was included in the budget,” Shinwari claimed He accused bad policies of the government for the reduction of trade between the two neighbouring countries.

“Not only with Afghanistan but generally, no priorities are given for enhancing exports,” Shinwari lamented.

The SCCI president added that the abolishment of the regulatory duty was a long-standing demand of the chamber. However, in 2018 again, the government did not fulfill it.

“Even the reforms introduced by former finance minister Ishaq Dar have been taken back.” He also lamented the lack of any allocation for K-P in the development budget.

“As much as Rs1.03 trillion was allocated for the federal Public Sector Development Programmes (PSDP), however, K-P has no share in PSDP, it will negatively impact developmental projects in the province,” he said.

Moreover, he said that the budget does not address the current trade deficit of the country while the current level of reserves was even lower than the import bill for two months. “It is the first budget that does not devise any mechanism to reduce the expenditure and increase revenues.”

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The SCCI president also criticised the Rs30 per litre tax on petroleum products which he warned would further fuel inflation. On allocating Rs100 billion for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), Shinwari said that it means that the federal government has now backtracked from its promise of merging the tribal areas with K-P.

“The special packages have never materialised into development in the tribal areas,” explained Shinwari.

He added that there was a high chance that any upcoming government after the general elections later this year, that the budget would be rejected in corrective mini-budgets.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30th, 2018.

 

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