Islamabad (May 02, 2018): Opposition leader in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah on Thursday rejected the fiscal year 2018-19 budget presented by the incumbent government.
During a session of the assembly held in the federal capital today, Shah said that the government had no right to present a full year’s budget when its tenure was due to end on May 31.
“We consider it (budget) unconstitutional and reject it,”
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“Budget allocation is serious business, you can’t just present it to get it off your shoulders,” he lamented.
“Things will take a turn for the worst if only one province is given preference and the government is not ready to address the deprivations of the smaller provinces,” he told the Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.
He continued to say that the Pakistan Peoples’ Party wants to create a strong federation.
“The circumstances will worsen if the mandate is not respected,” said Shah, stressing that nonpolitical mindsets should cease to exist.
“The budget is prepared in a way it benefits the country and the people. If you keep borrowing from here and there, it’s not going to work,” he said.
The opposition leader warned that giving a special preference to one province in the budget would aggravate the situation.
“The incumbent government wasn’t mandated to present the budget for one year. If you don’t respect the mandate, we may soon reach a point of no return,” he added.
Amidst the most rowdy audience, newly appointed Finance Minister Miftah Ismail had presented the sixth-full term budget under the PML-N government last Friday.
The Rs5,932.5bn budget represented a ten percent increase in spending from last year.
The opposition tore copies of the budget in an attempt to unsettle the new finance minister.
Khursheed Shah said that the country is facing huge problems due to rising population and declining natural resources.
He said proper policies have not been devised to overcome the problems being faced by the populace. Criticizing the appointment of Finance Minister, he said his party rejects the budget as unconstitutional.
Opposition Leader said the government took huge loans and put additional burden on the masses of the country. Syed Khursheed Shah said parliament is a supreme institution and its sanctity should be upheld by all. He said it is need of the hour that all politicians make unanimous decisions on issues of national importance.
He said government has to pay 14 percent interest on circular debt each year which could not be managed over the course of last five years. Leader of the Opposition in Lower House of the Parliament said the budget deficit is widening. He said in 2013, debt to GDP ratio was 60 percent which is now close to 70 percent and above the legal ratio allowed by the parliament through legislation.
Syed Khursheed Shah said government claimed to give 184 billion rupees relief to the people but on the other hand it put a burden of four hundred billion rupees in petroleum levy and other taxes.
The House today unanimously passed a resolution against abusive language used by some Ministers for PTI women.
The House will now meet tomorrow (Thursday) at 10:30 in the morning.
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