KARACHI: Former Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin has termed the Budget 2022-23, presented by the coalition government, a pack of lies, private TV channel reported on Friday.

Talking to private TV channel, the former finance minister said that the incumbent government has started with lies and malice. He pointed out that the rate of economic growth will not remain at 5 percent, adding that there was a contradiction in their statistics.

Shaukat Tarin further said that inflation rate would likely to increase to 25 or 30 percent. “As the prices of petroleum products and electricity increase, so will the inflation,” he added.

The former minister said that it is not known how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved this budget. “The Fund has prevented the PTI government from taking such steps,” he added.

Referring to the Economic Survey Report 2021-22, the former finance minister said that the report revealed the performance of the economy for the outgoing fiscal year with a growth of 6 percent.

“The economic growth reached 6 percent in our tenure since the 90’s. 4.4 percent growth in agriculture sector in our government is the highest in 30 years,” Shaukat Tarin noted.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022