Federal Budget 2013-14: A Review
The budget for financial year 2013-14, presented by new finance minister Ishaq Dar in the National assembly on June 12, comes at a critical time and in a peculiarly challenging environment.
The budget for financial year 2013-14, presented by new finance minister Ishaq Dar in the National assembly on June 12, comes at a critical time and in a peculiarly challenging environment. This is a time when the country has just witnessed yet another nation-wide electoral process which culminated in transition from one elected government to the other. In this electoral process, a government ruling the country from early 2008 to early 2013 was voted out by the masses; and one reason among many others was its extremely dismal performance on the economic front.
Economy, throughout this period, remained in the shambles, as the statistics below suggest. In case of almost every economic indicator, the situation moved from bad to worse. The energy crisis kept crippling every sector of the economy and every section of society in one way or the other, with the poor and under-privileged bearing the brunt the most, throughout this period. Economic and productive activities came virtually to a halt. What we see today is widespread deprivation, hence disappointment, frustration and perhaps a complete absence of confidence for the rulers. Needless to say, in such a situation, the foremost challenge before any government and its economic managers is the restoration of confidence of the people in general and those playing important roles in economic activities in particular.
This brief analysis, prepared by a Task Force of the Institute of Policy Studies, Islamabad takes a look at the budgetary measures in this context:
