PTI’s Ali Zafar rejects budget, says it achieves neither growth nor public welfare

ISLAMABAD: PTI’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, rejected the budget for 2026-27 as a document that achieves neither public welfare nor long-term growth, calling it a “budget of broken promises” built on “eleven deadly sins”.

Speaking during the Senate debate on Tuesday, Zafar said every budget must have two objectives: trickle-down benefits for the poor and a credible strategy for economic growth and job creation.

“Unfortunately, this budget fails to achieve either objective. It neither provides meaningful relief to the common citizen nor sets out a credible long-term plan for economic development and job creation,” he said.

The senator listed 11 areas he said the government had ignored: long-term growth strategy; industrialisation policy; a plan for agriculture despite rising imports of cotton, wheat and sugar; a roadmap to boost exports; job creation strategy for youth; a plan to expand the IT sector; a solution to circular debt or a coherent energy policy; provision for dams and water conservation amid pressures on the Jhelum and Chenab rivers; response to climate change; strategy for population growth; and education.

“Education is the foundation of progress and prosperity, yet the government appears to have neglected it entirely. It is as though the government does not wish to spread the light of knowledge among the people but is instead content to leave them in the darkness of ignorance,” he said.

Criticising the government’s approach, he said: “For the last several years, it has looked for solutions only where it finds it easiest — through International Monetary Fund (IMF) programmes and by imposing additional taxes on the public.”

He attributed the failure to incompetence rather than ill intent. “One conclusion is unavoidable: the government’s inability to solve the country’s fundamental problems stems from incompetence.

“The persistent failure to identify and address the root causes reflects not merely poor policy choices but a broader failure of governance and economic management,” he said.

Noting that FY2026-27 is the current government’s fifth budget, Zafar said each had come with excuses instead of results: the first year blamed PTI, the second repeated the same line, the third offered no progress, the fourth blamed the IMF, and now the fifth blames external factors, including the US and Israel.

“The real reasons for the government’s failure are much closer to home. The first is incompetence. The second is the absence of political stability. A government that does not enjoy the support of the public cannot provide a compelling vision,” he said, adding that people still regarded Imran Khan as their true leader.

The senator said the government had broken 10 “records of failure”.

He also flagged seven indicators moving downward: exports, standard of living, economic growth, investment, rupee value, business confidence and government credibility.

Mocking the 4pc growth target, he said: “A tortoise with arthritis could move faster,” adding that “for this government, perhaps even standing still is considered an achievement.”

Zafar criticised the focus on taxing the salaried class while untaxed sectors remained outside the tax net.

“The government appears determined to squeeze the last drop of blood from the bones of the salaried class,” he said, calling repeated tax hikes “madness” when they failed to produce growth.

He dismissed the “stabilisation budget” label.

“Yes, this is indeed a stabilisation budget — but it is a stabilisation of poverty, a stabilisation of hardship and a stabilisation of the hopelessness faced by ordinary people.”

On the primary surplus target, Zafar said it was being achieved by asking families “not to send their children to school, not to spend on their mothers’ medicines and not to meet other basic needs, so that the savings can instead be used to pay debt and interest”.

Using another analogy, he compared economic management to a repairman who would never fix a leaking roof but would keep asking for more buckets to be placed under it.

“The roof is still leaking. The problem has not been solved. Yet instead of repairing the roof, the government is now asking the provinces to give up the very bricks needed to keep it standing,” he said.

Senator Zafar said his rejection of the budget was due to its “harsh and burdensome nature”.

Other senators also criticised the budget and the ruling government.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) parliamentary leader in the Senate, Maulana Attaur Rehman, criticised the federal budget and raised concerns over the security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding that economic stability could not be achieved without restoring peace, particularly in KP and Balochistan.

He said the law and order situation in KP had deteriorated and that “despair was spreading among the nation,” adding that he felt unsafe when visiting the province.

Rehman said a tax had been imposed on tobacco, which is a key crop grown in KP. “We want the country’s security and development,” he said.

Referring to Gilgit-Baltistan, the JUI-F leader claimed his party’s candidates had been defeated there through rigging.

“This is the same complaint the PPP is making. On election day in Gilgit-Baltistan, the polls were rigged,” he said.

PTI Senator Mushal Azam rejected Budget 2026-27, saying it offered nothing for the poor and warning the government of public anger if economic hardship persisted.

Azam said, “The people need two meals a day, not lollipops.”

Participating in the debate, PPP’s Zameer Hussain Ghumro said the budget should include additional incentives for the welfare and well-being of the people.