Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday rejected the federal budget for FY2026-27, with the party’s information secretary calling it a document that serves the privileged and leaves ordinary citizens behind.
In a statement, PTI Secretary Information Sheikh Waqas Akram said that the Pakistan Economic Survey, released a day earlier, showed a continued decline across sectors as compared to PTI’s tenure in government.
Commenting on the budget, he said that the government had projected a 3.7 percent growth rate as proof of economic resurgence but noted that the previous administration had recorded nearly 6 percent growth in its final year, even through a global pandemic, while also strengthening the current account and remittances.
“The present government, with characteristic modesty, treats its modest achievement as a historic breakthrough, while relying heavily on remittances, foreign borrowing and factors that deliver little tangible benefit to those who live and work within the economy,” Akram said.
He added that poverty had seen a “sharp and conspicuous reversal”, pushing millions more citizens below the subsistence line.
Akram noted that the salaried class is already the most heavily taxed segment of the formal economy continued to struggle with basic household expenses, while the budget’s relief measures focused on higher income brackets and select business revenues.
On taxation, he said that the government had, over the last three to four budgets, imposed every conceivable tax, removed most reduced rates and withdrawn numerous exemptions. Small businesses and traders, he added, now face a new fixed tax regime, expanded withholding tax and intensified monitoring through digital invoicing.
“This approach does not aim to broaden the tax base or bring new taxpayers into the net. Instead, it relies on harassment and coercion of already compliant taxpayers to extract more revenue, while doing little to address widespread tax evasion,” he said.
Akram also pointed out that debt servicing now accounts for Rs8,054 billion out of total expenditure of Rs18,771 billion, effectively crowding out development and welfare spending.
He also took aim at the government’s push for privatisation, including the disposal of PIA and planned transfer of DISCOs (Electricity Distribution Companies), saying it risked becoming an accelerated sell-off of national assets whose primary beneficiaries may turn out to be connected interests rather than the public or employees concerned.
Earlier, PTI lawmakers in the National Assembly also staged a protest during the budget session, raising placards and chanting slogans against the government.
