Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Thursday said the masses should not be punished for the crimes of elite. The policy of rewarding the upper class which is in the being practised since decades has bankrupted the country.
The recent budget is not different from the budgets presented in the past and there is no relief for the poor and it continues to promote the rich, it said.
The budget will adversely affect the living standards of the common people already reeling under record inflation, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President of PEW.
The budget measures will increase poverty and unrest across the country while the crime rate will also increase, he added.
All the important targets in the budget including growth rate and inflation are unrealistic while mini budgets will continue to come throughout the year to increase government revenue,
In a statement issued here today, he said that increasing the growth rate by favouring the mafias is wrong as the previous government squeezed the people and push the growth rate to six percent.
Borrowed dollars were wasted relentlessly to achieve a better growth rate which emptied the treasury was emptied leading to a serious crisis in the country.
Wastage of resources by offering cheap loans, tax concessions and amnesty schemes helped property, textile and other mafias whiten their black money and earn billions while the masses saw their standard of living declining due to record mismanagement, corruption and leakages.
Borrowing from other countries to support influential business groups to boost growth rates for the sake of popularity is reprehensible, he said, adding that the growth rate improvement does not benefit the poor but when it comes to making sacrifices, they are the target.
The central bank would soon announce an increase in interest rates and a one per cent increase in interest rates adds Rs 200 billion to the country’s debt, he informed.
