LAHORE, June 1: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf says like the previous years the new budget is dead on arrival and grossly wrong in estimating the fiscal deficit while the Jamaat-i-Islami sees massive hike in inflation in coming months.

A PTI spokesperson said the government presented its budget each year and then proceeded to completely ignoring it and ending each year with no semblance to the original budget.

“Starting the year with a budget that set a target of 4.7 per cent of GDP as the fiscal deficit, by its own admission will end the year with a budget deficit of almost 7 per cent (including circular debt) and which in reality will probably end up close to 8 per cent,” he said.

He said this massive deficit was not only devouring almost all available bank debt but was also resulting in heavy monetization of the deficit through recourse to huge borrowing from the State Bank.

“These actions are directly adding to the misery of the citizens and businesses of the country.”

The spokesman said there was nothing substantive in the budget which dealt with the high rate of inflation, increasing unemployment, low savings and investment rates, inadequate and unfair revenue base, massive losses in the public sector enterprises, huge unproductive expenditure of the government, low investment in the welfare of the citizens of the country or making Pakistan more competitive globally to spur exports.

“It is also like the previous years a budget which is dead on arrival and grossly wrong in estimating the fiscal deficit.”

For example, he said, Rs250 billion and growing of overdue payables to the IPP’s were not accounted for anywhere in the budget .

“We are likely to end next year with another deficit exceeding 8 per cent of the GDP and the economy will sink further in a debt trap”, he said.

JAMAAT: JI amir Syed Munawar Hasan said the government would meet the deficit of about 1200 billion by printing currency notes and squeezing the blood of the poor through price hike. “The JI terms the finance minister’s claim ridiculous that the government has reduced its expenditure by 10 per cent as compared to the last year.”

He further said the annual installment of 101 billion dollars to the IMF was actually the interest being paid by this poor nation and this amount was increasing every year.

Mr Hasan said the economy of the country could not improve unless the government pulled out of the US war, cut its spending and control its corruption.