Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar on Friday urged all political forces to agree on a charter of economy. "We should separate economy from politics," he said while giving a speech in the lower house of the Parliament. The minister said the government is striving to bring down the budget deficit to five percent which will help reduce debt and improve economy.
"The economy is improving fast as a result of prudent policies of the government and the opposition should laud it instead of just criticising performance of the government," he said. Dar said the country was facing a huge debt challenge when the present government came into power after the 2013 elections, but it made strenuous efforts to off-load the debt of international financial institutions without any rescheduling. The minister said the economy is now on a positive trajectory as our oil production has also risen from seventy four thousand barrel per day to one hundred and fifty thousand barrels per day. Steps are afoot to boost the country's exports besides a visible increase in revenue through taxes which will help put the country on the path of sustainable development, he said.
He said Pakistan is making payments to the international institutions well in time and these institutions are appreciating the positive indicators in the economic sector. Earlier, the opposition members lambasted the Charged Expenditure of over Rs 10156.93 billion, resulting in more loans and urged the government to move towards controlling expenditures, reducing loans and achieving fiscal discipline.
Over Rs 10156.93 billion Charged Expenditure relating to different departments and counts were presented in the National Assembly on Friday. The Charged Expenditure included in Demands for Grants and Appropriations for the financial year ending 30th June, 2016. The Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) staged a walkout from the House in protest against the statement of Defence Minister Khwaja Asif.
Dr Azra Afzal said that the government has proposed a Rs 50 million for Pakistan Post Office department in the Charged Expenditure, however due to mismanagement and inefficiency, the Department is facing Rs 4 billion losses annually. She urged for the privatisation of the department as other private courier companies are making profits. She further said the government is heavily relying on loans and taking more and more loans.
She raised questions over the proposed Rs 1168.675 billion servicing of domestic debt, Rs 8357.162 billion repayment of domestic debt, Rs 111.219 billion servicing of foreign debt, Rs 316.372 billion foreign loans repayment, and Rs 89.424 billion for repayment of short term foreign credits. The government should move to reduce loans, as investors have little space to get loans. Without brining discipline in fiscal deficit, the economic situation cannot be addressed.
Dr Arif Alvi of PTI said that Post Office has become a non-competitive institution. It should come out of mail and focus on supply of goods. He further urged for notifying the National Finance Commission (NFC) award to enable the provincial governments to allocate more funds to the education sector. Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad stressed the need for keeping prices of daily use items at a affordable level to help the poor. He further proposed that Post Office building should be utilised for the Passport office. He further criticised the government on the Nandipur power project while saying that it has been given to a Chinese company which was blacklisted in Pakistan for delivering faulty locomotives. He termed the Gaddani power project a failure. Ahmad urged for controlling corruption in government institutions.
Shazia Mari said that Rs 270 million has been earmarked under the head of other expenditure of foreign affairs division for the foreign trips of the President against Rs 250 million for the current fiscal year, which did not bring any betterment for the poor. She also questioned the transparency in the Prime Minister's Laptop scheme. She demanded timely release of funds by the federal government to the provinces especially to Sindh from divisible pool.
Asif Hasnain of MQM said that Post Office was running in profit a few years back. Mired in high expenditure the institution is losing public confidence, he added. Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that government has missed all the economic targets and failed in creating job opportunities. There is no financial accountability. The claim of macroeconomic stability is like a bubble.
Dr Nafeesa Shah said that on one side the government is trapped in rising debt while on the other it has failed to spur growth. Unless and until growth rate and revenue generation pick up momentum, debt servicing could not be reduced. She further said that on one hand there was an alleged capital flight of $1.5 billion to Dubai while on the other hand, foreign direct investment is declining as it stands at $800 million. Due to a reduction in oil prices, inflation has decreased but its full benefit has not been passed on to people. She also criticised a Rs 25 billion bailout package and over Rs 100 billion loans to Pakistan Railways. Shireen Mazari said unless and until tax reforms are not introduced, situation could not improve. Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Sahibzada Tariqullah, Ghulam Sarwar and Sher Akbar Khan also participated in the debate.
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