ISLAMABAD: Former federal minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Omar Ayub has criticized the incumbent government’s budget for the next fiscal year, saying that petrol prices would soar to Rs310 per litre, ARY News reported on Saturday.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad today, Omar Ayub pointed out that the PTI government had left the price of electricity at Rs16 per unit which would shoot up to Rs40 per unit next month.
“Similarly, the petrol prices would soar from Rs300 to Rs 310 per litre,” he noted. Omar, while quoting the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, said that the gas bill would increase 400 percent and those who had been paying Rs1350 bill will pay Rs3400.
The former minister noted that the incumbent government was going to bring down the business community. “The pressure will increase on the rupee and the government will fail to meet its targets,” he added.
Terming the incumbent government ‘imported’, Omar Ayub said that since these people came into power, the country’s banking ranking has been dropped.
Taking over the presser, PTI Senator Shaukat Tarin termed the government’s budget as ‘non-serious’, criticising many of the figures and targets for various sectors and areas.
“They should understand that the numbers don’t lie no matter how much spin-doctoring you do,” Shaukat Tarin said, adding that the budget has a deficit of Rs4.2 trillion.
Tarin said the government has fixed the target of 5 percent GDP growth with a share of the agricultural sector at 3.9 percent, claiming the target to be unrealistic with existing water crisis and soaring prices of fertilizers.
He noted that the government has set the target of 7.1 percent growth in the manufacturing sector, adding that PTI’s growth rate in the sector was 7.2%.
The former finance minister said the government will impose a petroleum levy of up to Rs35 which would bring another storm of inflation in the country. “Tax rates on banks have been increased by 12 percent, their growth figures are non-serious,” he added.
Talking about subsidies in the power sector, the former minister said the PTI government gave Rs1 trillion worth of subsidies to the sector. “They’re working by that same old logic of old Pakistan,” he added.
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