- PML-N’s favourite policy of adhocism won’t work
Ishaq Dar became increasingly dysfunctional beginning with his indictment in a corruption reference on September 27 and followed by admission in a London hospital on November 4. He has been running the affairs of his ministry via e-mail and WhatsApp since October 27. He was allowed to continue till he himself announced that he was going on long leave. Why the government hesitated to replace him remains a subject of conjectures of a damaging nature.
A new finance minister has yet to be appointed. PM Khaqan Abbassi has taken over Dar’s portfolio for the time being. Among the arrangements being discussed is to provide him a team of economic advisers who would actually run the ministry. Any dispensation minus a full-time finance minister will fail to work. The economy faces gigantic challenges. During the last four years current account deficit has risen to over $5bilion while foreign exchange reserves have fallen by 28pc in 12 months. No effort was made by the outgoing finance minister to discover why exports continued to fall year after year after the PML-N take over in 2013.The government’s debt accumulation since 2013 has pushed up total public debt from nearly Rs14.5 trillion in FY13 to around Rs21.5tr by June 2017 — adding Rs7t in just four years. Even more worrisome is that the PML-N government has contracted new foreign loans of nearly $40b in four years, an unprecedented amount, pushing total public external debt outstanding in net terms (after repayments), from $51b in June 2013 to $62b at the end of March 2017.
Major decisions about the national economy are beyond the ken of economic advisors who being specialists in a single field do not possess a holistic view. The finance minister being a cabinet member is better aware of the social, political and international context and can make better choice from the options available. The finance ministry’s work has been adversely affected during the last four months and there is an urgent need to implement corrective measures. Any delay in the appointment of a new full-time finance minister could be disastrous.
