The federal budget 2013-14 has proved this statement correct. With the new political administration at the helm of affairs, the situation is surely somehow different than the past five years, though not an ideal one.“The political cost of economic decisions is the worst nightmare for the policy-making circles particularly political parties and this is what plays the most significant role in budgetary allocations.”
A short glimpse of the budget document clearly shows that the budget is more business friendly than people friendly.
We find that the government has focused on fiscal discipline, development, power generation, political economic initiatives and has assisted in creating a business friendly environment.
There are many things in the budget, which made me happy, particularly the few austerity measures that were announced by the prime minister in his maiden speech.
For the first time in the country’s history, a prime minister has abolished his discretionary fund, which was worth more than Rs42 billion. Similarly, secret funds of 12 ministries (used mostly for political lobbying) have also been abolished.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced a 45% cut in the expenses of the prime minister’s office and a 44% cut in the budget of the Prime Minister House. According to him, Pakistan needs a strong fiscal discipline, where every department has to perform efficiently and within the available means.
The PML-N government announced it will not keep more than 40 ministries in order to curb expenses alongside announcing a 30% reduction in non-developmental expenses of each ministry.
According to Dar, if we were to comply with the economic vision of the PML-N, the development funds will be increased by 50% to Rs540 billion.
Announcement of Karachi circular railway, continuation of the Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline, Nandipur power project, and Ashiana housing scheme for the entire country are a few glimpses of how the development budget will be spent.
Furthermore, the government announced an increase in the percentage of income tax for people earning more than seven million annually.
Amid protests over power outage, the government has rightly allocated Rs225 billion for various power projects. Rs59 billion are allocated to invest in the water sector projects that include Katchi Canal Katchi Canal (Dera Bugti and Nasirabad), Rainee Canal (Ghotki and Sukkur), Kurram Tangi Dam (North Waziristan), Gomal Zam Dam (South Waziristan), Ghabir Dam (Chakwal), and Mangla Dam raising.
Moreover, the announcement to eliminate circular debt in 60 days is good news for the industry and people, and will surely result in some relief for the common man.
Looking at the initiatives, that are mostly criticised for their political motives we find various successful programs pursued by Shahbaz Sharif’s Punjab government spread all over the country. The Free Laptop scheme, the national internship program, cheap loans for young entrepreneurs and the Qarz-e-Hasana program are a few particularly youth welfare projects.
The continuation of the Benazir Income Support Program has been a good development, though the government changed its name. I wish they could retain the original name alongside developing a transparent mechanism to ensure fair distribution of the money to people who deserve it.
In short, the budget has its pros and cons
, we can debate everything; however, I believe that every Pakistani will have to support the government for its difficult but correct economic decisions.
This is a golden opportunity for the PML-N leadership to make their ‘Asian Tiger’ slogan a reality.
Political maturity and economic wisdom has to be compatible in order for it to work. This can also be done by promoting education and not hiding anything from the public.