On Friday, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail unveiled the coalition government’s maiden budget with an outlay of Rs9.5 trillion for the fiscal year 2021-22 in the National Assembly.
While presenting the budget proposals in the lower house, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail blamed the past government and its “inexperienced team” for bringing the country to the verge of economic disaster.
The finance czar of the country said that the current budget focuses on “sustainable and inclusive growth.”
The minister said the government had to move towards “sustainable growth”, adding that the growth target for next year was set at 5%.
“The problem of our economy is that growth is 3-4%, but when it moves up to 5-6%, our current account deficit goes out of control, because we prioritise the elite and increase our imports to facilitate them. We need to adopt a new outlook focused on alleviating the lower-income sections of society to increase domestic production,” the minister said.
Addressing the Speaker of the National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf, Miftah assured the lower house that the new coalition government will pull Pakistan out of the economic crisis: “We have done it before, we can do it, we will do it.”