Pakistan: Budget aftershocks jolt common man

DAILY TIMES

The PML-N government appears to be in extra hurry to put the economy on ‘right track’ as it implemented the 1% increase in GST just a day after the announcement of federal budget for 2013-14, even without waiting for the parliament to pass the budgetary proposals to give it a legal status. Prices of petroleum products and the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) increased on Thursday after implementation of the new GST tariff, sparking a wave of immediate surge in the prices of edibles and daily-use items across the country. The petrol price was hiked by 86 paisas per litre; light diesel oil by 77 paisas and high speed diesel by 90 paisas per following an increase in the GST. The new rates are effective from midnight Thursday. After the increase, new price of petrol has been set at Rs100.63; that of diesel at Rs105.50, light diesel oil at Rs 89.90 and of kerosene oil at Rs 94.59. The government has also increased the prices of compressed natural gas (CNG) by 45 paisas per kilogramme. The new prices of CNG are applicable to Region 1 and Region 2. Transporters in several cities instantly announced an in crease in inter-city fares. The newly elected heavy-mandate government’s first budget has been branded as ‘business-friendly’ by most the business community and industrialists while the common man has termed it from ‘cruel’ to ‘anti-poor’. Common man was seen up in arms over what they say no relief for the poor in the budget. Terming the budget as ‘business-friendly, not people-friendly’, they asked the rationale behind cutting import duty on cars when the poor segment of the society striving to make both ends meet. Upset with zero increase in the salaries of government employees, the clerks have announced to go on strike from Friday (today). Other government employees have already announced to observe strike from June 21. For the first time in the history of Pakistan, no increase has been announced in the salaries of the government employees. However, pension was increased by 10%, besides increasing the minimum pension to at least Rs 5000. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told the government employees to swallow the bitter pill this year in hope for a ‘good news’ the next year. The opposition parties have also rejected the budget, saying the budget presents no concrete solution to the country’s economic woes. It said that the budget would serve nothing except burdening the poor. However, the Karachi Stock Exchange saw yet another all-time high, as investors piled up cement and telecom stocks in a post-budget buying spree on Thursday. The benchmark 100-Index gained 1.94 percent, or 433.15 points, to close higher at 22,757.72. The market drew strength from certain measures announced in the budget, according to the analysts. The rupee ended steady at 98.50/98.55 against the dollar. Overnight rates in the money market remained flat at 9.40 percent. Trade volumes rose to 471 million shares compared with Wednesday’s tally of 352 million shares. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs12.4 billion. At the end of the day 214 stocks closed higher, 127 declined while 45 remained unchanged.