Too busy for reforms?
The finance minister is too busy, apparently, to follow up on the committee that was supposed to recommend improvements in ‘ease of doing business’ in the country. The smart idea followed WTO’s fourth trade policy review for Pakistan, where ‘lack of transparency and predictability’ were noted, among other things. Pakistan has also slipped from 110 (2013) to 128 (out of 189) this year on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index. Budget time is near so such posturing is important. All sorts of important numbers have been missed again, and the only small ‘victory’ of sorts has been getting the Fund, etc, to agree to the downward revision again.
Foreign investment is crucial, especially at this point in time, not just for its own reasons. Tax earnings are not going to increase anytime soon considering the government’s inability to move forward on this front; despite tall claims during the election campaign. And exports are not going to budge either. There is neither value addition nor market expansion, and neither much effort with regard to either. So the most opportune economic stimulant can come from outside, in the form of foreign investment. But there are problems there too. The security environment has left us struggling to host even international sporting events. Getting large-scale and long-term financial commitments, of the kind that guarantee fair returns, becomes that much more difficult in such situations.
That, of course, is why there must not be any unnecessary impediments in the way of the little investment that does come through. Hence the finance minister’s committee. But, typically, there has been no movement since early last month, when the announcement was made. And what can a committee really do in this matter, especially one that has not even formally been notified? If the minister had talked to the business community, he too would have understood how bureaucracy and its red tape is the problem. Looking to them for a solution would surely miss the point. The government must give this issue serious attention. That the finance minister is a busy man is understandable, but only if he is busy because of the economy, not too busy for it.
