Budget makes no mention of how circular, public sector debt will be paid: Asad Umar
Shortly after the outgoing PML-N government presented a sixth full-term budget in the National Assembly on Friday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Asad Umar took to Twitter to point out what he deemed were the shortcomings.
"No mention in the budget about how and when the more than 500 billion [rupees] of circular debt and more than 1 trillion [rupees] of public sector debt will be paid," said Umar. "Totally false and understated fiscal deficit hiding large unpaid amounts [which are] not recognised in the budget."
Newly appointed Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, who announced the budget amid protests, said that the government intends to restrict the overall fiscal deficit to Rs1890.2bn or 4.9pc of the GDP, down from the revised estimates for the year 2017-18 which stood at 5.5pc.
"The budget also does not deal with the reality of dangerously falling foreign exchange reserves and the headlong rush of the economy towards a bailout," Umar alleged.
PPP's Sherry Rehman, the leader of opposition in the upper house of Parliament, rejected the government's "22 trillion debt-laden budget", adding that the provinces were doing the right thing by presenting a short budget.
Earlier in the day, opposition members in the Parliament protested against PML-N presenting a full-year budget, saying it wanted the government to present a budget only for one quarter.
Umar's fellow PTI member, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, also took issue with Ismail "an un-elected minister" presenting the budget.
"The leader of the opposition has said there is no moral justification for the government to present the full-year budget," he added, backing Syed Khursheed Shah's reservations.