President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday rejected the summary forwarded by Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso seeking approval of some financial measures, noting that it was not a mini-budget. He said since the front-loading of the loans of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was aimed at facilitating future deliberations between Nawaz Sharif’s government and the IMF, the PML-N should own this arrangement.
“Taking notice of the misleading news items appearing in a section of the press, the president has returned the summary to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, saying that since the PML-N’s next government is going to be facilitated by the caretakers, Nawaz Sharif should own it,” a well-placed source in the Presidency told Pakistan Today.
The source added that the president also directed the prime minister to take notice of the media leaks about the functioning of the caretaker government which were misleading.
Mini budget:
According to sources in the Finance Ministry, Adviser to the PM on Finance Dr Shahid Amjad Chaudhry is spearheading a drive to streamline the economic matters so that the next government could be facilitated in the budget-making process.
“Though the caretaker prime minister and his team are set to leave in about two weeks, but like true patriots, they are involved in hectic efforts to prepare ground for the newly-elected government in managing the budget-making process. In this regard, some drastic steps have already been taken while some proposals have also been laid down,” the source added.
“The adviser on finance has also been involved in ensuring front-loading of the loan payment so as the new government could also negotiate for new loan on low mark-up and on easy instalments,” the source said.
The source said the adviser had already paid a visit to the US recently where he had gone to attend the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund. He also held talks with the IMF on the sidelines of the moot, seeking some concessions for Pakistan in loan repayment. He also met heads of international financial institutions and delegations.
“The initiative aims at facilitating the new government in loan repayment and holding negotiations for new loans on low mark-up as was done by the PPP government in year 2008. This would greatly help build the economic strength”.
He said the finance adviser was also involved in streamlining finances related to the energy sector, adding that subsidies for energy sector were being streamlined and rather than blanket subsidies, targeted subsidies are being proposed.
“One of the proposals being made is that the provincial governments should generate their own electricity. Moreover, measures are also being adopted to plug the line losses and other leakages in the power sector to save energy,” the source added.
He said the adviser had also directed the Revenue Department to take drastic steps which may guarantee increase in revenue collection. “The ministry has taken some new measures to expand the tax net. We hope that this will greatly help the new government,” the source added.
The source said the finance adviser’s focus was on making efforts to bring down the fiscal deficit to 5 or 5.5 percent which would greatly help the new government. Moreover, the source added, Prime Minister Khoso had already launched an austerity campaign to save energy by banning the use of air conditioners in offices and official residences of the bureaucracy.