"You have to give full marks to Asad Umar."
"I disagree - he is responsible for the budget deficit reaching unsustainable levels and to blame the previous administration for that is not right for the simple reason that accounts are calculated on an annual basis and..."
"But the borrowing component of the annual government accounts was extremely high courtesy Ishaq Dar, and..."
"Though one component can be laid at the doorstep of the previous administration, in the current year debt servicing is projected to account for 34 percent of current expenditure..."
"But not the entire 34 percent can be attributed to the Dar years - in 2012-13 this component accounted for 35 percent of total current expenditure..."
"Ah yes, the political fallout of percentages but anyway you are aware that Asad Umar did not engage in dialogue with other major recipients of current expenditure and he should have - I am sure the other major recipients would voluntarily sacrifice massive allocations for a couple of years if they understand the extent of the problem...."
"Hmmm, but I would still give full marks to Asad Umar. He may have performed poorly but he left as a man with integrity."
"Indeed and that is reminiscent of what he did when he was heading Engro. The guy resigned there and..."
"Yep there too he displayed integrity."
"I personally think he is extremely impressive in one to one meetings and he easily convinces the decision maker to put his/her faith in him but then he does not deliver or delivers poorly and resigns with a flourish."
"So you want to coin a proverb?"
"I don't understand."
"There are people like Asad Umar with a lot of promise who fail to deliver."
"There is an existing proverb attributed to Jussi Adler-Olsen, a crime fiction Danish writer: but promises based on ignorance always prove disappointing. And Umar made many, many promises but they were all made in ignorance...."
"Ignorance of what?"
"Well, he was ignorant of the state of the economy when he took over or so he said but then data was being released by independent economists during the PML-N administration so there is no justification for his ignorance; he was also ignorant of why a finance minister should not make so many statements and he did; he was ignorant of basic economic theory and..."
"I would still give him 100 percent marks..."
"For the integrity he displayed as he left?"
"Hey, given politicians in Pakistan that's a very big thing."
"I agree."

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019

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