ISLAMABAD - Expressing his disappointment over the federal budget, Leader of Opposition in the Senate Ishaq Dar has urged Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to shed his discretionary powers instead vacating the PM’s House.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday, he blasted the PPP-led ruling coalition for bad governance, saying the government had announced to offer 100,000 new jobs that would add additional burden on the national economy. Similarly, the PML-N leader also lamented the government’s move to provide lifetime security to the former presidents and prime ministers. He noted with deep concern that the government had not paid attention to addressing the serious problems including national savings, which had reached to lowest ebb, and the Rs 12,024 billion national debt.
Dar was of the view that the tax-to-GDP ratio should have been increased up to 15 per cent from the current level of 9 per cent to put the national economy on the right track as the GDP growth rate was dismal.
Senator Dar maintained that the energy crisis could be tackled by doing away with circular debt and by utilising biogas resources, which, he believed, could generate 4,960 megawatts of electricity.
He was concerned that new government would face serious economic challenge because of the major development projects worth 1800 billion rupees.