Hamza slams Punjab govt over 'IMF-dictated' budget.

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz severely criticised the economic policies of the government while opening the general discussion on the provincial budget in the Punjab Assembly on Monday.

As he started delivering his speech on the budget being the opposition leader of Punjab, slogans were raised against him from the treasury benches that also provoked the lawmakers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) who also started chanting slogans against Prime Minister Imran Khan and his government. Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi had to intervene, telling the treasury members to listen to Hamza's speech attentively as he was the opposition leader.

As Hamza proceeded with his speech, he started bashing the economic policies of the government and said that this budget was prepared by the same International Monetary Fund (IMF) who had "snatched our economic freedom and we have to pay a heavy price of accepting the demands of the IMF". "Investment has decreased drastically since this government took the reins and a farmer, a layman and even a vendor is cursing this government for the worst-ever economic crisis that we are facing today due to the wrong policies," said Hamza.

He said the PML-N government produced 1,100MW electricity and constructed 1,700KM-long motorway after getting loans, but the incumbent government did not do anything after receiving loans of billions of rupees because "it doesn't know anything about the political economy". Talking about the figures of the budget, Hamza said that the government was projecting the GDP growth at 2.4 percent despite the fact that the previous government had achieved the GDP growth of 5.8 percent. The inflation would go to an alarming figure of 13 percent and it was at 5 percent during the PML-N tenure, he said. "The dollar has reached at Rs 156 (sic), stock market decreased by 200 percent, petrol prices increased by 30 percent, electricity bills increased by 20 percent, gas prices increased by 146 percent, foreign investment decreased by 52 percent, unemployment reached at 21.5 percent and the foreign loans have been increased by Rs 500 billion," said Hamza, adding that he was worried about the ongoing political and economic situation of the country.

According to the opposition leader, 1.2 million youngsters were in search of jobs, including 800,000 women, while the government was snatching the employment opportunities in the guise of...