Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Sunday invited the opposition to sign a Charter of Economy (CoE) and defended the federal budget 2026-27.
Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly on Sunday, Tarar gave credit to the government for what he called “sagacious” economic policy.
“It’s a friendly and relief-oriented budget for all,” he said, noting that the budget has proposed to abolish the super tax, which had been approved by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The information minister highlighted that revenue and foreign remittances had increased.
Tarar urged opposition to appreciate the good decisions made by the government, particularly its efforts for peace in the Middle East. “Today the economy is on the right track,” he asserted.
Responding to Tarar in the NA, PTI leader Asad Qaiser said the PTI was willing to sign a Charter of Democracy to ensure an independent election commission and judiciary.
He also accused the information minister of tarnishing the facts. “Has he (minister) read the letter that PTI wrote to the IMF? We have not written anything against Pakistan,” he said.
The PTI leader recalled that Opposition Leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai had met with PM Shehbaz on Saturday following their speeches in the NA.
Qaiser remarked that all the budgetary proposals “had come from” the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He contended that farmers in Punjab would suffer losses worth Rs2.2 trillion due to a lack of relief announced for the agricultural sector. He also claimed that 90 companies had exited Pakistan and halted their investments.
Qaiser said tobacco farmers have been crushed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, noting that the sector has been taxed by 390 per cent. “You have made a monopoly of two cigarette firms,” he added. “Bring a third slab of tax for petty growers.”
Meanwhile, PPP leader Sharmila Faruqui contended that no relief was given to the common man in the FY27 budget.
She said the salaried class had paid Rs550bn in taxes last fiscal year, but relief of only Rs50bn was being given to the said class in the budget.
Other opposition leaders on Sunday rejected the federal budget, accusing the government of ignoring economic realities, burdening citizens with taxes and failing to address rising poverty. “They [rulers] are deceiving themselves,” Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said while addressing a budget seminar in Islamabad, criticising the government’s claim that a person earning Rs280 a day was not below the poverty line.
Abbas alleged that the government had failed to provide services to the people. “The people of Pakistan are being crushed in the mill of poverty,” he said, adding that prices of food items were “touching the sky”.
“Pakistan’s income is less than its expenses,” he said, adding that no serious effort had been made to reduce expenses and increase income. Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan leader Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said the rise in poverty was proof of the failure of economic policies.
Awam Pakistan Party leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the last four years had been the worst for Pakistan’s economy. He said government expenditure had become larger than development spending, while pension expenses had exceeded the cost of running the government.