Unrealistic budgetary claims

Grinded down by a myriad of pressing problems like poverty, inflation and unemployment, the people were expecting the budget to be "poor-friendly" and had developed high hopes in this regard. On June 11, the federal minister of finance presented Rs 2 trillion consolidated federal budget for 2008-09 in the NA.
The economic growth rate has been projected at 5.5 percent with the fiscal deficit as 4.7 percent of GDP. But the people have met despair and their hopes have been dashed to the ground. Once again we have failed to break the decades-old vicious cycle. Perhaps the poor are ordained to suffer the privations and miseries while the rich are indulged in luxurious lifestyles.
Last year Omar Ayub envisaged "buzzing economy" in the budget but soon the myth exploded and today the economy is in tatters. Fudging the figures has remained the hobbyhorse of our finance ministers who are least bothered about the popular sentiments. This budget presents a list of claims that are divorced from reality and cannot be realised. There's more to these figures than meets the eyes. Likewise many sectors have not been given proper attention out of traditional attitude of apathy.
The government has promised to staunch the inflationary tide at 12 percent without developing any mechanism for controlling the prices. The exogenous factors responsible for the current malaise - oil price hike and upsurge in the international food prices - are beyond the government's control. In the international market the oil price has hit $133 per barrel and there is no chance of it climbing down in the foreseeable future. Pakistan is an oil importing country and so it remains adversely hit by increase in oil prices. No serious effort is being made to utilise the alternative oil resources available to us in inexhaustible abundance (like coal). Moreover there is a fat chance of government's retreating from its adventurism into mismanagement. Given this situation, it would not be a pushover to constrain the inflationary pressures.
Take the education sector. Education is a vehicle for social change. It modernises the society and revolutionises the archaic practices. Despite its significance, a paltry sum of Rs 24.6bn has been allocated for this sector registering an increase of 11 percent as compared to the previous year's allocation.