The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the federal budget in the Senate, with the party’s parliamentary leader, Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, dismissing the government’s budget plan as a "budget of broken promises" riddled with what he called "eleven deadly sins" and unable to provide either public assistance or sustainable economic growth. Opening a wide-ranging critique of the 2026-2027 fiscal year budget, Zafar argued that every budget should serve two fundamental goals: improving the lives of ordinary citizens and laying the foundation for long-term growth and employment. He argued that the government’s latest financial plan had failed to achieve both objectives, accusing it of offering neither meaningful relief to struggling households nor a credible strategy to revive the economy.
"Unfortunately, this budget fails to achieve any of these goals. It does not provide meaningful relief to ordinary citizens and does not outline a credible long-term plan for economic development and job creation." he told the Senate. The PTI senator said the government ignored eleven critical areas that should have formed the backbone of a serious economic program. These included a long-term growth strategy, an industrialization policy, agricultural reforms despite increasing imports of cotton, wheat and sugar, promotion of exports, youth employment, expansion of the information technology sector, solution to circular debt, a coherent energy policy, investments in dams and water conservation amid increasing pressure on the Jhelum and Chenab rivers, climate change, management of population growth and education. Regarding the education sector, Zafar said: "Education is the foundation of progress and prosperity, but the government seems to have neglected it entirely. It is as if the government does not wish to spread the light of knowledge among the people but is rather content to leave them in the darkness of ignorance." he said. He accused successive governments of relying on short-term solutions rather than tackling structural weaknesses in the economy.
