PESHAWAR
Muhammad Faiq Shah, founder and chairman of the Amun Taraqqi Party threw heavy weight behind the government’ move to privatize loss-making state-owned entities (SoEs) and called the austerity policy should be implemented with true spirit.
Holding deliberation of proposals for the upcoming fiscal year budget, Shah on Wednesday asked government to present a pro-poor and business friendly budget.
He added non-salary expenditures should be drastically cut down.
He demanded maximum allocation to education, health and public welfare schemes in the budget.
The ATP chief called upon the government to utilize all possible resources to provide maximum relief to common man in the budget for upcoming fiscal year 2024-25.
Shah viewed said budget has reflection of government priorities which should be made ‘pro-poor’ and ‘business-friendly’
He urged the government to not impose any additional taxes through the FY budget 25.
Similarly, he stressed that the reduction in the ratio of current taxes, especially indirect taxes on poor masses, should be abolished.
He added that special relief and subsidies on daily use essential items should be announced.
Faiq sought a sizable increase in salaries of government employees.
He furthermore demanded an increase in minimum wage as per rising inflation.
He also asked to allocate huge proportion funds for small federating units in the budget.
Shah demanded special priority to agriculture, education, industries, business, trade.
Special subsidies in power, gas, agriculture, industrial sectors should be announced, he added.
In order to create more employment opportunities, he emphasized mega development projects should be proposed in the budget.
He suggested a special youth skill training program should be launched.
He proposed a special interest-free loan scheme for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large scale-manufacturing (LSM) sectors.
The ATP chief also demanded allocation of funds for uplift of the real estate sector in the country.
Commenting on the current political scenario, Shah noted Pakistan’s democratic system has been jeopardized.
