PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) provincial Chairman Sikandar Hayat Sherpao on Friday termed the federal budget ‘unrealistic and anti-poor,’ saying it offered little relief to ordinary citizens, workers, farmers, youth and salaried individuals, while the government failed to reduce its own unnecessary expenditures.
In a press release issued from Watan Kor, Peshawar, he described the seven percent increase in salaries of government employees as inadequate in view of the prevailing inflation rate, alleging that the government appeared completely detached from ground realities.
He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which had rendered the greatest sacrifices in the fight against terrorism, had once again been ignored in the federal budget. The QWP leader criticised the federal government for failing to allocate sufficient resources for the province’s security needs, development projects and the rehabilitation of terrorism-affected areas.
He criticized the government’s decision to increase petroleum levy collections by an additional Rs250 billion, saying the authorities were shifting the burden of their economic failures and flawed policies directly onto the poor.
While welcoming the slight reduction in income tax, he said the government should have provided greater relief to taxpayers.Referring to the allocation of less than three percent of funds for the merged districts, he termed the move unjust and said the promise of granting the districts a three percent share under the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award had yet to be fulfilled.
The QWP leader questioned the claims of economic improvement presented in the Economic Survey 2025-26, arguing that there had been no tangible improvement in the lives of ordinary citizens.
He said indicators such as economic stability, lower inflation, foreign exchange reserves, remittances and a projected GDP growth rate of 3.7 percent were meaningless unless they translated into real relief, employment opportunities, equal opportunities and an improved standard of living for the people.
Sikandar Sherpao maintained that citizens continued to face soaring inflation, unemployment, poverty and worsening economic challenges despite the government’s claims of economic stabilization.
The QWP leader said the burden of economic reforms continued to fall on existing taxpayers, while no effective measures had been introduced to expand the tax net or improve the taxation system. He described the government’s target of collecting Rs15 trillion in taxes during the next fiscal year as unrealistic.
Highlighting challenges facing the agriculture sector, he said farmers were struggling with expensive fertilizers, electricity, diesel, water shortages and uncertain policies. He noted that while the government had set a 4.5 percent growth target for agriculture, the sector achieved only 2.89 percent growth.
He said the industrial and business sectors were facing difficulties due to high electricity costs, elevated interest rates and rising production expenses, which were discouraging investment and limiting job creation. He claimed that the number of unemployed youth had increased by another six million.
Sikandar Sherpao said that despite the State Bank’s purchase of $27 billion over the past three years and the government’s collection of nearly Rs7 trillion through petroleum levy, neither electricity nor fuel prices had decreased, nor had the public received any meaningful relief.
