Shehbaz terms mini-budget a fraud

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ISLAMABAD
Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has termed the mini-budget a fraud, adding a real hammer would be dropped on the nation through this.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, he said, “The PTI took a traditional U-turn on the Rs350 billion mini-budget. If the common man’s pockets are empty, then this budget is fake.”
“Last month witnessed the biggest trade deficit, while circular debt continued to rise exponentially,” the PML-N president said, adding that, “Circular debt has increased to a record Rs27 billion, which was Rs11 billion during our party’s rule”.
“The price for electricity has also been increased thrice [in their tenure], which has spelled the country’s destruction,” he deplored. “The fact is that this government has no control whatsoever over circular debt, dollar [rate], inflation, or the increasing unemployment in the country”, he added.
“So, the question is what exactly they are capable of bringing under control?” he asked and went on to call the government the “most incompetent, lethargic and ‘manhoos’ (wretched) in Pakistan’s history.”
Shehbaz noted that the PTI finance minister had vowed that Prime Minister Imran would stand firm to the demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “The fact is that the control of the country’s economy has been handed over to the IMF,” he maintained.
Top leaders of the two main opposition parties – Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto – have repeatedly lashed out at the government for its “mini-budget”.
“The most vulnerable sections of the society have been hit the hardest with this disastrous mini-budget,” the PML-N president said in the statement.