MQM lists down economic proposals for new govt ahead of federal budget

Party promises this is a people friendly budget.

KARACHI: A day before the new government was scheduled to announce the federal budget, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) presented its ‘shadow budget’ of Rs4 trillion for the year 2013 to 2014.

The MQM’s budget was presented by Dr Farooq Sattar and has been made by the Economic and Finance Committee of the party. At a press conference held at the Khursheed Begum Secretariat on Tuesday afternoon, Sattar urged the new Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take notice of their budget proposal as it will guarantee an end to economic problems, such as poverty, inflation, power outages and unemployment.

“To dispel the notion of a traditional and an ‘awam dushman’ [anti-people] budget, the government should pass our budget,” he suggested, adding that they were the only political party to come up with a proposal before the budget is introduced.



Their comprehensive shadow budget includes 20 major proposals, such as an end to petroleum levy, a decrease in sales tax rates from the current 16 per cent to 10 per cent, an increase of minimum wages to Rs15,000, a 15 per cent increase in salaries and pension of government employees, a reduction in the prices of gas and electricity utilities and a special subsidy for the energy sector.

Dr Sattar read out the proposals as matching slides made their way on the screen behind him. The MQM budget calls for an inclusion of three million new taxpayers in the tax net, which includes feudal lords, landlords and other influential people. “Currently there are no more than 900,000 to a million taxpayers, which includes an overwhelming majority of salaried and poor people,” he pointed out.

This proposed budget will bring down the deficit from Rs1,303 billion to Rs725 billion. “We have brought the budget deficit down to half, which comprises only three to 3.5 per cent of GDP,” he said.

Decrease defence spending

The MQM shadow budget proposed a decrease in defence expenditure as compared to last year’s budget. The party suggested bringing the budget down from Rs545 billion to Rs500 billion. In the development expenditure, they have allocated funds worth Rs250 billion for water, energy and higher education, with an additional Rs150 billion for security development projects, such as inserting security cameras and introducing a mass transit system in major cities.



The parliamentarian said that overseas Pakistanis can help establish low-cost housing schemes, IT and media parks. “We believe in economic empowerment of people and small loans should be provided to people, and the tax net should be widened,” said Dr Sattar. He suggested holding Brazil, China, India and Russia as model countries. “Our budget proposes an increase in resources and a decline in spending.”

On the other hand, Rabita Committee member Nasreen Jalil called for an emphasis on solar and wind energy projects in Sindh, and said that the government should allot money for it. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Khawaja Asif’s demand to the KESC to give them 350 megawatts of electricity was unjust, she felt. “The electricity coming from the national grid to this city of 20 million is only 650MW. There should be equal distribution.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2013.