Call to keep budget deficit low by maintaining financial management

The eminent economist, Dr Ashfaque Hassan Khan, Thursday, while showing grave concern over increasing fiscal deficit, said that government should keep the budget deficit low by maintaining financial management in the country.
He was addressing the concluding day of the 26th Annual General Meeting and conference on Fiscal Decentralisation: Empowering the provinces, strengthening the federation organised by Pakistan Society of Development Economists (PSDE).
He further said that it's a testing times for Pakistan's economy having a large fiscal deficit with huge debt services. Where large total debt has crowded out the private investment and has slowed the growth in the presence of persistent double digit inflation over a long time. He emphasised that it's a high time that government should keep the budget deficit low and maintain financial management. He further hailed the 7th NFC award as a success of democratically elected parliament.
Saqib Sherani, former economic advisor to Ministry of Finance, highlighted the importance of better cohesion and co-ordination in macroeconomic management and NFC award. He further said that to fill in the vacuum, quarterly plans have been put in place for better co-ordination among federating units.
Dr Akmal Hussain, Syed Engineering Ltd, said that short-term recession decreases the government revenues, increases poverty and unemployment and eventually leads to changes in the composition of the federal revenue. Macroeconomic management is a strategic channel that could lead to equitable and sustainable growth by improving service delivery to the people in a cost effective way, he added.
Dr Ijaz Nabi, Dean Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) highlighted the importance of 7th NFC award in addressing the political issues in uniting the country. He also pointed out the importance of the NFC awards in the provision of quality service delivery to the people. This eventually would go a long way in strengthening the capacity of the provinces and thus contributing to the overall better economic management of the country.
Taking part in the discussion, William Baldridgde, Director Economic Growth USAID Pakistan highlighted the importance of accountability and assessment of the provincial authorities. He particularly identified that the shortcomings in human resources should be addressed to strengthen the institutions. Dr Rashid Amjed, Vice Chancellor Pakistan Institute of Development Economics concluded the 26th conference by thanking all the speakers, participants and donors for their contribution in the conference. He emphasised that it's a high time to identify the critical issues related to the 18th amendment and this conference will go a long way in highlighting the bottlenecks and ways to make a cohesive federation.