Difficult economic decisions: government seeks PML-Q support

The government on Wednesday sought the support of Pakistan Muslim League-Q to take difficult decisions to put the economy back on track. The Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh was quoted as saying that the government has to take difficult decisions to save the economy for which it needed political support as nobody would come from outside for help.
He said that circular debt may go up to Rs 300 billion and borrowing from State Bank of Pakistan over 600 billion if things were not fixed, Secretary Finance Dr Waqar Masood was quoted as saying during presentation to the leaders of PML-Q on state of the economy.
The inflation would skyrocket if the borrowing from the central bank continued to finance the fiscal deficit, according to an official the secretary said that low revenue collection and increasing prices of oil are serious challenges for the government. "We need your co-operation in the parliament on some difficult decisions to fix the economy," said finance minister to the leadership of PML-Q.
The PML-Q leadership was given a detailed briefing on the emerging scenario of the national economy with reference to various measures taken by the government including freezing of expenditure, rationalisation of PSDP and impact of increasing oil prices in the international market plus the negative impact of the on-going wave of terrorism on the national economy.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance, the leadership of PML-Q was apprised of the macroeconomic framework in which 2008 was taken as a benchmark year and subsequent developments that took place in and around Pakistan leaving effects on Pakistan''s economy particularly global food inflation and international commodities prices forcing the government to borrow from the State Bank.
They were also informed about the impact of flood on economy and on budget target and PSDP. The circular debt problem was also discussed at length and the members of PML-Q were apprised of the receivables from the provinces to Pepco leading to shortage of energy and power.
Hafeez Sheikh said that the government wants to share all the economic problems with the political leadership to develop political consensus on economic reform agenda. The government wanted that PML-Q leadership should join hands with the government and other democratic forces in coming out of the present economic problems being faced by the country.
The 5-member government committee was headed by Federal Minister for Finance while other members included Federal Minister for Law, Senator Babar Awan, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Recourses, Syed Naveed Qamar, Minister for Water and Power, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Minister of State for Finance and Economic Affairs along with Deputy Chairman Planning and Secretary Finance visited the residence of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain head of PML-Q to brief Mushahid Hussain Syed, Riyaz Pirzada, Nilofar Bakhtiar, Marvi Memon and Shirazi.