Budget intends to support impoverished: Ihsan Afzal

Coordinator to Prime Minister of Commerce and Industries Rana Ihsan Afzal Khan Monday said the budget was designed with a focus on assisting the underprivileged rather than catering to the wealthy.
Talking to a private news channel, he said that in order to get the country out of economic quagmire, the government was taking measures to reduce expenditures by adopting austerity measures.

All federal cabinet members, advisers and special assistants surrendered salaries and other privileges to adopt austerity, he added.

The government’s policies slashed inflation from last year’s 38 percent to 12.6 percent, he further added.
The second and far most important initiative of the government was to downsize and privatize the loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs), he said, adding that the process started by wrapping up the Pakistan Public Works Department (PWD), and privatization started with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).