CRCP general secretary, Mian Abrar Hafeez, while criticizing the budget priorities, said that the budget has ignored the problems of a common man. He said that CRCP was cognizant of the need of incentives for investment in the country, but solely focusing on enhancing the opportunities of investment could not yield any immediate relief for consumers. He emphasized that investment- friendly budget could have the potential to benefit the people in the long run, but this strategy must be considered within broader framework of consumer protection.

Mian Abrar lamented that CRCP was not against the practice of levying GST on nonperishable items, but he said that the rate of tax should be determined by taking into account the average income level of people. The budget 2002-2003 has increased duty on edible oilseeds from 5 to 10 percent and on chillies from 10 to 20 percent. The new tax on edible oil and ghee may increase their prices by more than three rupees per kilogram. "The accumulative effect of inflation would lead to exorbitant increase in their prices thereby making the purchase of these essential items unaffordable for the poor. Moreover, high utility charges are already adversely affecting the nutrition level of low-income classes," he added. In addition, the 20 percent GST slab, which covers more than 190 items, has been extended to edible oils, talc, solvent oil, calcium carbonate, and some other items.

While commenting on the budget measures regarding revision of pay scale of government employees, CRCP general secretary said that the budget did not revise the salary package of government servants despite that the Finance Minister had pledged in his last budget speech to raise the government servants salaries in the budget 2002-03. The Pay and Pension Committee had recommended last year that pay could be increased in two phases. In the first
phase, pay might be increased by 50 percent for BS 1-16 and at the rate of 60 percent for BS 17-22 as against the consumer price index (CPI) differential of 75 percent from 1995 to 2001. The balance difference in CPI was recommended to be allowed in the second phase, which has not been considered. Even in the first phase, lower staff had got no net relief due to withdrawal of certain allowances. He told that an increase in their salary package was urgently needed in view of the fact that the prices of essential items and utilities had increased exorbitantly during the previous year, and which would further increase as a consequence of the measures taken in this budget.

While commenting on the social sector spending, he said that the government was ignoring vital social sectors such as education and health. He pointed out that only a fractional change in allocation for education sector was made in the budget 2002-03. An amount of Rs. 2.6 billion has been earmarked for the education sector in the budget against 2.5 billion allocated in the last year. However, he appreciated that allocation for poverty alleviation program had been raised by Rs 17 billion, i.e. from Rs 119 billion in 2001-02 to Rs 136 billion in 2002-03. He stressed that the government should give due attention to social sector spending for welfare of common man. He emphasized that the government is in a dire need to re-orient its budget priorities by taking into account the interests of all stakeholders.