33 : The First Budget by the New Coalition Government in Pakistan: Economic Situation and Policy Directions
Iftikhar A. Lodhi, Research Associate at the ISAS
9 July 2008
The troubled coalition government passed its first federal budget (Fiscal Year 2008-09)2 on
22 June 2008, after being in office for a hundred days, amid growing economic woes,
political instability, and a deteriorating law and order situation. This paper analyses the
budget in a broader macroeconomic framework and examines the policy initiatives that could
put the economy back on track and provide the much needed relief to the common man.