Muzzammil Aslam KP Finance Adviser Warns of Historic Unemployment and Inflation

KP Finance Adviser – (Web Desk) – Muzzammil Aslam, KP Finance Adviser to the Chief Minister, strongly criticised the federal government as it prepared to present its fifth consecutive budget. Speaking at KP House in Islamabad, he said the country was facing record-high unemployment and inflation, while the overall economy had shown little to no real progress.

Aslam pointed out that no government in Pakistan’s history had ever presented five budgets in a row. He said this was not something to be proud of, especially when ordinary people were still struggling to meet basic needs every single day.

He questioned the government’s claim of 3.7 percent economic growth this year. He noted that major crops only grew by 0.6 percent, which clearly did not support such an optimistic figure. He also raised a contradiction — the government claimed livestock grew by 3.8 percent, yet fodder crops recorded a negative growth of 2.1 percent at the same time.

The government projected inflation at 8.2 percent for the next fiscal year. Aslam said the heavy promotion of the Uraan Pakistan initiative gave people false hope that the economy would improve. However, in reality, nothing had changed on the ground for common citizens.

He admitted that some sectors did show growth. The automobile industry grew by 60 percent, auto transport equipment by 40 percent, furniture by 20 percent, and football manufacturing by 23 percent. But he stressed that electricity generation dropped by 10 percent, which seriously undermines any talk of broad industrial progress.

Aslam made it clear that the government was cherry-picking a few sectors to paint a positive picture, while the bigger economic story remained deeply concerning for millions of Pakistanis.