ISAS Briefs

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the leading political group in the coalition that has governed from Islamabad since 2008, presented the budget for the financial year 2012-13. It took great pride in the fact that this was the first elected government in Pakistan’s history that was presenting a budget for the fifth consecutive year. This was considered to be a triumph for democracy. But this sense of triumph was tarnished by the way the budget speech was received. It was read out by Finance Minister Abdul Hafiz Sheikh on Friday 31 May 2012. The presentation was made before a raucous parliament, with the main opposition party, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), protesting the presence in the chamber of Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani who had earlier been convicted by the Supreme Court for contempt. It was expected that this conviction would lead to the prime minister’s resignation. That did not happen and the opposition, led by Imran Khan, president of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, had moved the court to remove Mr. Gilani from his position. This paper suggests that the 2012-13 Budget is more of a political than an economic and financial document. It postpones addressing the difficult problems the country currently faces, expecting that the PPP will have another term after the next elections that must be held before the end of the spring of 2013. Then it could deal with the economy.