- Need for revision of policy regarding Opposition also
A number of technocrats, former bureaucrats and businessmen have been appointed as advisors and special assistants to the PM. It is widely understood that they play an important role in devising government policies. The advisors and special assistants are now seeking executive powers also. Public officials are expected to put service to the public and their constituents ahead of their personal interests. Being unelected, the advisers and special assistants are not answerable to anyone except the PM. They can therefore afford to ignore the common man’s interests while devising policies. Some of the individuals in this category have been accused of having a conflict of interest and of acting for certain powerful lobbies. The bailing out of defaulters by a 50 percent waiver on Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) was the latest example of the sort. The PM acted wisely when he withdrew the ordinance promulgated last week that offered a Rs 210 billion financial amnesty to big businesses.
The government has fixed an ambitious Rs 5.5 trillion revenue collection target. The FBR, it is contended, needs a 44 percent growth rate instead of the 2.4 percent projected in the budget to achieve the goal. While PM’s Finance Adviser Dr Hafeez Sheikh says the government will try its best, he concedes that it is a very difficult target. The credit rating agency Moody’s has noted that external pressures weigh on Pakistan’s foreign reserves. Some of the widely known economists have predicted that the new economic realities may force the government to renegotiate the $6 billion loan deal with IMF .
Macro-economic adjustment is meanwhile causing a lot of pain. With sales dropping 30 to-50 percent after the budget, industry in general is in dire straits. The most badly hit is the car making sector along with its chain of vendors and distributors. Also hit badly are the cement and steel sectors. This is producing mass unemployment which is going to climax in coming months. The government needs to review whether this is the best time to indulge in what is seen by the opposition as sheer acts of vengeance.
