Budget 2021 ‘a path to destruction’: Shahbaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD: PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif said the Budget 2021 is actually a ‘path to destruction’ and has exposed the government’s incompetence.

"The government first tried to hide behind the PML-N for its failures and now it is doing the same with the coronavirus," Shehbaz Sharif said, adding that the country had witnessed historical setbacks in terms of inflation, unemployment, and business during the incumbent government's tenure.

"This isn't a budget, but a path to destruction," said Shehbaz, adding: "Unfortunately, the nation is paying for this government's incompetence."

The PML-N president said that his party had taken up the policy of "less inflation and more development". The budget announcements proved that the government is not ready to take the "path of reform and wisdom", he noted.

"The current deficit of Rs1.7 billion in tax revenue is the performance of the present government," he said."For the first time in 68 years, the country's GDP has plunged to negative. Is this the incumbent government's performance?" he asked.

Shehbaz lamented that fiscal deficit had never climbed to double digit yet this government had managed to do this as well.

"The budget and its goals are unrealistic, and problems and public difficulties are likely to increase," Shehbaz said, adding: "This is the first government that has failed to achieve its set targets of tax revenue, government expenditure, fiscal deficit, and GDP."

He said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor had been halted by the present government and reduction in development expenditures was not a good omen.

"Where is their creative thinking, increasing exports, developing agriculture and industry, and people-friendly budget measures?" he wondered.