Govt draws flak for dropping 'inflation bomb'

Opposition leader in NA says increase in gas tariff will prove detrimental for country's economy

ISLAMABAD: The opposition locked horns with the government in the National Assembly during the debate on mini-budget where leader of the opposition Shehbaz Sharif likened it to dropping an “inflation bomb”, but at the same time offered to chalk out a charter of economy to “break the begging bowl”.

Lambasting the government for what he termed an anti-poor measure, Shehbaz Sharif said that budgetary measures were anti-people and provided no relief to the common man.

Criticising the government over the alleged rigging in polls, he said that they had not opted to sit in the National Assembly to “legitimise the rigged elections” but to ensure democracy survived in the country. “Everyone knows this government was born out of rigged elections, but not votes,” Shehbaz said.

Before elections, he said, PTI had carved castles of false hopes, but “many who voted for PTI were now shouting against “mini-mehengai” budget.



Accusing the government of making tall claims, he said that before elections, PTI had promised a culture of meritocracy, besides pledging to launch the “best team”.

Instead, he said, they had picked close friends, personal servants and imported advisors as cabinet members.

“Is this Naya Pakistan?” he asked, saying that the common man would now have to pay 143 per cent more on gas prices, adding that this would ultimately impact the electricity price, fuel inflation and overburden the middle class.

He insisted that the PML-N had avoided increasing gas prices during its five-year tenure, but the architects of “Naya Pakistan” had done it in their initial days.

“We added 11,000 megawatts of electricity to the national grid, but 5,000 megawatts are being produced by units run on natural gas. This increase in gas prices will also impact imports and exports, industries besides widening the trade deficit, causing further deterioration in the value of rupee,” he warned.

Blaming the government for deliberately creating confusion over China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, he said that some advisors were on the record making statements to this effect.

“All such actions amount to enmity with Pakistan,” he said, adding that it was a golden opportunity to uplift the country.

Shehbaz Sharif also maintained that the government was lucky enough not to have to face issues such as power outages, terrorism and the credit “goes to the previous tenure of Nawaz Sharif”.

Pointing out various “discrepancies” in the mini-budget, Shehbaz Sharif said that Finance Minister Asad Umer used to talk about broadening the tax net, but his own government was taking steps away from this policy.



“Umer is a genius … but I ... did not expect this from him,” he said.

Sharif said that this budget was worth Rs183 billion and nearly Rs70 billion was indirect taxes.

He also pointed out that the minister had been opposing indirect taxation during the tenure of the PML-N government, but now he had announced such measures, raising Rs70 billion in indirect taxes.

Commenting on the measure to allow non-filers to buy vehicles and property, he said: “I can sum it all up, saying that honesty has lost and dishonesty has won.”

Circular debt, he said, amounted to Rs503 billion in 2013 which had been reduced to Rs496 billion in May 2018.

PML-N lawmakers kept thumping desks during Shehbaz Sharif’s entire speech.

Talking about the cut in the public sector development projects, Shehbaz Sharif said: “The cut is severe and it can impact education, CPEC projects and it will be difficult to meet other important targets,” he remarked.

On building dams, he said that until and unless there was a consensus among all federating units, the Kalabagh dam should never be given go-ahead.

Dams, he said, had now become crucial for the national economy.

Maintaining that the PML-N government had purchased land for Diamer-Bhasha dam for Rs122 billion, besides allocating Rs23.6 billion in the current budget, he pointed out that the mini-budget made no allocation for any such project.

“Please sell the eight buffalos (in the PM House) and add the money in the dam fund,” he chuckled, making the house laugh.

“Governments will come and go but no one will be able to change anything for building Pakistan and breaking the begging bowl,” he said.

Urging the government not to take hasty steps for cordial ties with India, he said that the Kashmir issue could be solved on the lines of Northern Ireland and East Timor.