Dawn

Polls vs economics If there was any doubt that we are about to see a populist budget at the end of the week, the development programme announced by the government ought to dispel it. The development budget for next year has been hiked by almost 20 per cent, going beyond Rs1 trillion. We will know the details after the budget, but for now it seems the government is prioritising discretionary expenditure as far as possible with an eye on the elections. Take, for instance, the programmes titled ‘Electricity to All’ and ‘Clean Drinking water for All’ which have received Rs12.5 billion each.