PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif has sensitized the general public by acknowledging the widely circulating reports that the government would soon start taking tough measures in line with its understanding with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the plan to introduce deep-rooted structural reforms in different sectors of the national economy. Chairing the introductory apex committee meeting of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) in Islamabad on Thursday, he, however, held out an assurance that the burden of tough decisions would primarily be borne by the wealthy and elite, with safeguards in place to protect the interests of the poor and vulnerable. He also underlined that structural reforms were inevitable to ensure macroeconomic stability and to put the country on the path to development and progress.
There is general consensus that the country can no longer run on clutches of foreign loans, which are going beyond our repayment capacity. Therefore, concrete measures are needed to reform the working of the Government and its machinery as well as mobilize domestic resources to reduce dependence on foreign aid. However, what we have observed during the last five years, reforms only mean phenomenal increase in prices of POL products, frequent upward revisions in electricity and gas tariffs, leaving the rupee at the mercy of currency manipulators, privatization of national assets including the profit-earning entities, closure or down-sizing of institutions, a cut on perks and facilities of civil servants, denial of pension and massive reduction in the developmental expenditure. People of Pakistan have borne the brunt of these tough measures as inflation is breaking their backs but regrettably there are no indications as yet that the economic conditions of the country or prospects for the people have improved because of these policies and steps. There is, therefore, no room for putting more burden on the common man when economic woes of the country can easily be addressed by initiating genuine reforms that could help improve efficiency and output of the public sector entities, plug corruption and thefts and bring non-tax payers or under-taxed into the tax net. The assurance of the Prime Minister that the future tough measures would be directed against wealthy and elite while interests of the poor and vulnerable would be shielded is welcome. However, it is beyond comprehension how this objective would be achieved while implementing IMF prescriptions that envisage an increase in GST rate as well as PDL on POL products, further upward revision of electricity and gas tariffs including base tariffs and adoption of a more liberal exchange rate policy. It is quite obvious that implementation of these and similar other recommendations would increase inflation and make the lives of the people miserable. You cannot shield people by taking refuge behind pleas that the vulnerable segments of the society would be protected through so-called targeted subsidies that are negligible and transitory in nature. In this disappointing scenario, one hopes the platform of SIFC would play a crucial role in realizing dreams of the country about foreign investment, industrialization, development of agriculture on modern lines and strengthening the hands of the Government in tackling different sorts of mafias sucking the blood of the people. It has rightly been pointed out that the SIFC initiative has made major contributions towards investment, privatization and overall microeconomic stabilization of the country. The platform has moved from its formative phase and evolved progressively under the caretaker government. Solid action backed by the Pakistan Army was taken against smugglers, hoarders and profiteers and there is need to take the process forward with the original spirit to produce desired results on a sustainable basis. Caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, who attended the briefing along with his erstwhile cabinet members, wished the new Government luck in dealing with economic challenges and transforming Pakistan into one of the top economies of the world. There is no reason the country cannot achieve its targets when the armed forces are solidly on the back of the Government. It is satisfying that the Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir reassured the fullest support of Pakistan’s armed forces to backstop the economic initiatives of the government and ensured the provision of a safe, secure and conducive environment to nurture the country’s true economic potential. There is a need to change priorities and evolve sound policies through input from all stakeholders and then implemented in letter and spirit. The Prime Minister has also sought the support of all political parties and provincial governments to successfully implement the agenda of macroeconomic stability in the country. It is hoped he would move beyond rhetoric and take practical steps for political healing and national reconciliation.
