I have all the reasons to believe that the prime minister is not fully aware of nitty-gritty of managing economy of Pakistan. However, he has a team of ‘economic experts’, which is fully aware of the targets agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and prevailing state of the affairs.
Having gone through the details I arrived at the conclusion that the prime minister is either stubborn or does not listen to what is being advised by the experts.
Reportedly, on Friday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced his government would launch a new relief package of Rs28 billion per month to protect the poor from the burden of petrol and diesel price hike.
Any government has a right to pay subsidy provided it has enough money in its kitty. Pakistan already faced huge budget deficit, therefore, it can’t afford to pay untargeted subsidies.
Prime minister said under the relief package, the premier said, 14 million poor families, comprising 85 million people, would be given Rs2000 per family. I am surprised to read his statement as he is creating a new breed of baggers. He is also opening floodgates of corruption.
He said this was in addition to the monetary assistance being given to them under the Benazir Income Support Program. This relief package will be added in the next budget, the premier said.
Prime minister hasn’t come out of the shadow of Imran Khan. In his first address to the nation — a day after his government removed fuel subsidies and increased the price of petrol by Rs30, he made two points: 1) it was because of the previous government 2) he had to take the difficult decision with a heavy heart.
He termed the PTI government's decision to grant fuel subsidy a trap for the upcoming government. "Petroleum prices are increasing worldwide but they (PTI government) subsidized fuel despite knowing that the treasury cannot bear its burden."
The hike in petroleum prices is a universal phenomenon and Khan can’t be blamed for this. The added insult is huge depreciation of Pak rupee. This depreciation was mostly because of failure of the incumbent government to revive relationship with IMF.
This is also to remind the prime minister that his government is yet to announce increase in electricity and gas tariffs. Would he further increase the subsidy?
In my opinion, much of the burden of common man would be reduced if government orders 50% reduction in the remunerations of MPAs, MNAs, Senators and Ministers. Similarly ‘fuel’ allocations should also be reduced to half.
If common man is required to pay higher prices of petroleum products, electricity and gas why perks of elected representatives can’t be reduced to half?
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