AS was widely expected, the interim government has declared its intention to continue the economic policies initiated by the previous government. A commitment to this effect was made by Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar during a briefing on the country’s economic situation on Tuesday. The officials briefed Kakar in detail about the measures being taken to bring about stability and a further improvement in the country’s economy, the ongoing reforms in the power sector and the premier declared that the new government would maintain continuity in the country’s economic policies and bring more economic improvement.
In the past, Pakistan paid a heavy price for not pursuing prudent economic policies and this became evident when the former Prime Minister Imran Khan breached the terms of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of his strategy to dilute the pressure built by the then opposition in the shape of a no-confidence resolution. This sharp U-turn in policies strained the country’s relations with the global lenders which imposed more stringent conditions for resumption of the suspended aid. The confidence of the donors has been restored through consistent efforts both by the civil and the military leadership and the country cannot afford to repeat past mistakes. In this backdrop, the commitment of the interim PM to take the policies of the previous government forward during his tenure is a welcome development as we have had enough of experiments and now is the time to deliver. As the power sector has become highly problematic, a process of reforms has been initiated which the caretaker set-up intends to pursue further. However, we may point out that reforms should mean improvement in performance and delivery of the sector and not the traditional approach of raising the power tariff every now and then, which has implications for all categories of consumers and the overall economy. There is no justification to burden the consumers further to fund rampant corruption, widespread theft, billing default and line losses due to dilapidated distribution and transmission networks. As the price of electricity is going beyond the paying capacity of the consumers, there is also no justification for continuation of free electricity for senior officials and employees of WAPDA. The pledge of the Prime Minister to focus on increasing revenue collection is also the need of the hour but here again burden should not be put on existing taxpayers and genuine efforts be made to bring those into the tax net who are either paying nothing or symbolic tax as compared to their incomes. Continuation of the ongoing projects is also understandable as the country has already invested money on them which must not go to waste. That the interim Government has plans to ruthlessly implement the ongoing economic agenda was also confirmed by the wholesale increase in the prices of petroleum products for the new fortnight. In its first major decision, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar’s government on Tuesday night jacked up the petrol price by more than Rs 17 and that of the diesel Rs 20 per litre on the plea that the prices of the commodity have increased in the international market. This is the second major increase in a month as prices of both petrol and diesel were jacked up by Rs 19 a litre at the beginning of the month. No doubt, this is being done in line with the understanding reached with the IMF but it seems the decision-makers are totally oblivious of the plight of the people. Together with further loss in the value of rupee (Rs 4 on Tuesday) the latest increase in prices of POL products would trigger a new wave of inflation. Inflation is already hovering around forty percent and one can imagine sufferings of the people in the absence of any corresponding increase in their income and resources. The vows of the people are unlikely to be addressed in the near future as foreign exchange reserves are under pressure after the decision of the government to lift restrictions on imports and a drop in remittances by Overseas Pakistanis. Caretakers are not as sensitive to the public opinion as the elected governments but even then they should not close their minds and eyes to the hardships of the masses.
