Daily Times

KARACHI: Political parties criticised the Federal Budget 2017-18 presented by Senator Ishaq Dar on Friday and termed it an “anti-poor budget”.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Asad Umar, criticising the budget, said that the government of PML-N was not farmer-friendly but the enemy of farmers. “The country buried under debt cannot be called free,” he added. “The PML-N government took the same amount of loans within 45 months that the Pakistan People’s Party government took in five years,” he noted. Dr Farooq Sattar, chief of Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan, rejecting the fiscal budget termed it ‘status quo budget’. “Poor have been burdened with additional taxes. The rate of sales tax should be reduced from 17 percent to 9 percent. Petroleum levy should be eliminated along with sales tax,” Sattar observed.

Dr Tahirul Qadri said in a tweet that the budget was a “showcase document”. “The facts and figures narrated by finance minister need third-party validation. Due to policies of the elite, culture of terrorism and offshore companies has been promoted.” He also wondered what kind of progress it was, when there was an increase in imports and decrease in exports. Mustafa Kamal, chief of PSP, said that the government had failed to achieve its targets. “The government should have allocated 10 percent of the resources for Karachi, according to the population of the city.”