ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf parliamentary leader in the Senate Barrister Syed Ali Zafar on Tuesday rejected the new budget, saying it neither provides meaningful relief to the common man nor sets out a credible long-term plan for economic progress and job creation.
“The budget 2026-27 is a document that achieves neither public welfare nor long-term growth, as it is a budget of broken promises built on eleven deadly sins,” he emphasised while taking part in the ongoing budget debate in the Senate.
Every budget must have two objectives, he underlined and then explained that it should have trickle-down benefits for the poor and a credible strategy for economic growth and jobs. Unfortunately, this budget fails to achieve either objective.
He accused the government of ignoring as many as 11 key areas: no long-term growth strategy; no industrialisation policy; no plan for agriculture despite rising imports of cotton, wheat and sugar; no roadmap to boost exports; no job creation strategy for youth; no plan to expand the IT sector; no solution for circular debt or coherent energy policy; no provision for dams and water conservation amid Jhelum-Chenab pressures; no response to climate change; no strategy for population growth; and “virtually nothing” for education.
Barrister Ali Zafar insisted that education is the foundation of progress and prosperity, yet the government appears to have neglected it entirely. He charged that the government’s approach was just like a person who lost his house key near the door but searched under a streetlight because the light is better there. “For the last several years, it has looked for solutions only where it finds it easiest i.e. through IMF programmes and by imposing additional taxes on the public. That is where for the government the light is.”
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s parliamentary leader in the House, Maulana Attaur Rehman in his hard-hitting speech, slammed the federal budget and raised concerns over security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying economic stability could not be achieved without restoring peace and security, particularly in KP and Balochistan.
PPP’s lawmaker Zameer Hussain Ghumro emphasised that the budget should include additional incentives for the welfare and well-being of the people, needing more focus and attention.
Amir Waliuddin Chishti of the MQMP said Pakistan’s high energy costs, taxation structure and regulatory environment are discouraging both local and foreign investment.
