Budget lacks reforms, burdens formal sector

A private think tank has criticised the federal budget for 2025-26, terming it a set of “misaligned expenditure priorities” and “overly ambitious revenue targets” with no meaningful reforms on either front. In its quarterly report released on Monday, the Policy Research Institute of Market Economy (PRIME) said the government was losing sight of a coherent economic reform strategy. Although presented as fiscally responsible and aligned with IMF benchmarks, the think tank argued that the budget was focused more on economic survival than transformation. It pointed out that over 92 per cent of the total expenditure was allocated to current spending, leaving little fiscal space for development, which has been cut by another 10pc this year.