Shehbaz fires broadside at govt over 'mini-budget scam'

Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday came down hard on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government for taking another ‘U-turn’ by introducing the mini-budget.

"PTI took a traditional U-turn on the Rs350 billion mini-budget. If common man’s pockets are empty, then this budget is fake," he said while addressing the lower house of the Parliament.

The opposition leader termed Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government “the most incompetent in the country's history”.

"Last month witnessed the biggest trade deficit, while circular debt continued to rise exponentially," the PML-N president said, adding that, "Circular debt has increased to a record Rs27 billion, which was Rs11 billion during our party's rule".

Also read: $5B trade deficit sign of economic catastrophe, says Shehbaz

"The price for electricity has also been increased thrice [in their tenure], which has augured destruction for the country," he maintained.

"Some people are happy at the economic progress that they say Pakistan is making under Imran Khan’s rule," the former Punjab chief minister said. "But the fact is that this government has no control whatsoever over circular debt, dollar [rate], inflation, or the increasing unemployment in the country", he added.

"So, the question is what exactly they are capable of bringing under control?" he asked and went on to call the government the "most incompetent, lethargic and ‘manhoos’ (wretched) in Pakistan's history".

Shehbaz noted that the PTI finance minister had vowed that Prime Minister Imran would stand firm to the demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"The fact is that the control of the country's economy has been handed over to IMF," he maintained.

Top leaders of the two main opposition parties – Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto – have repeatedly lashed out at the government for its “mini-budget”.

Terming the budget a fraud, Shehbaz has said “real hammer would be dropped on the nation through mini-budgets”.

“The most vulnerable sections of the society have been hit the hardest with this disastrous mini-budget,” the PML-N president said in a statement.

The Senate on Tuesday approved the recommendations on the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021.

Presenting the final report related to the bill, Standing Committee on Finance Chairman Senator Muhammad Talha Mahmood highlighted that the Opposition did not raise any objections to the bill.

It is pertinent to mention here that Federal Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin presented the supplementary finance bill in the National Assembly last month, as a pre-requisite to resuming the $6 billion External Fund Facility (EFF) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Terming the "mini-budget" an “IMF budget”, Mahmood said that the supplementary finance bill will bring a tsunami of inflation in the country.

Condemning the oppression of businessmen, he said that the government is “debasing the dignity of businessmen. It wants to loot them by raiding their lockers.”

“They have even proposed an increase in the taxes on milk, bread, yoghurt, etc,” he said.