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                        <title>The Express Tribune</title>
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                        <description>The Express Tribune keeps you up to date with all the latest happenings from Pakistan and across the world!</description>
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			<title>Govt claims bullseye on tax collection target</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/200232/govt-claims-bullseye-on-tax-collection-target</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/200232/govt-claims-bullseye-on-tax-collection-target#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 01 Jul 11 02:38:26 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Shahbaz Rana]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=200232</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Meeting the target may help restore the suspended IMF bailout programme.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[After missing most targets in last year’s budget, the government took its critics by surprise on the eve of the financial year’s end – claiming that it had hit the bullseye on perhaps the single most important target: Tax collection.


In a hurriedly called press conference on Thursday, the tax authorities announced that they had surpassed the revised tax collection target for fiscal year 2010-11, after missing it for the last three years.

Meeting this target has also revived hope that the suspended $11.3 billion International Monetary Fund bailout package may be restored.

“Against a revised target of Rs1,588 billion, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has so far collected Rs1,590.5 billion in taxes and more receipts are coming in,” announced FBR Chairman Salman Siddique at the conference. The 2007-08 was the last fiscal year when the government achieved its tax collection target.

The recent collection brings Pakistan’s tax-to-GDP ratio to 9.2 per cent, the second-lowest in the region after Bangladesh.

The chairman said the ratio can only be increased if the government brings all sectors into the tax net.

Bona fide collections

Amid apprehensions of jugglery in figures and concerns of alleged arm-twisting, the FBR says it has achieved its revenue target in good faith.

The tax authorities collected Rs1,406.4 billion on account of income tax, sales tax and federal excise duties and Rs184 billion on account of customs duties.

The customs duties’ target was surpassed by Rs12 billion, said member customs Mumtaz Haider Rizvi.

The Rs1,590.5 billion figure, however, is Rs77 billion below the original tax collection target of Rs1,667 billion that was approved by parliament last June.

“It is bona fide collection and we would conduct an audit along with private auditors”, said the chairman in response to questions of soliciting advances from banks to meet the target.

Even the IMF would put this figure in its own auditing process, he said.

The chairman, however, admitted that the government took an advance of Rs5 billion last year from the Trading Corporation of Pakistan.

Sohail Ahmad, the then-chairman FBR, has recently been appointed Secretary Establishment Division.

Restoring the IMF programme

The provisional revenue collection figures provides a sigh of relief to economic managers who have been struggling to keep the budget deficit below six per cent of the total size of the economy.

“The collection would help restore the IMF programme as the government would now be able to restrict the budget deficit at 5.2 per cent (excluding 0.6 per cent of circular debt payments) along with curtailing expenditures”, he added.

Siddique said the collection would allow the policy makers to tell the world that Pakistan could achieve its targets.

The target was only achieved after Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani provided an environment of “no political meddling in tax affairs,” he added.

Amnesty scheme

The amnesty scheme also played a part in meeting the target, said Siddique.

The government had waived off all penalties and surcharges on late payment of taxes. The chairman announced to discontinue the amnesty scheme with immediate effect.

Broadening the base

The chairman said that efforts to broaden the tax base would continue and in the next fiscal year, the government plans on  collecting Rs106 billion simply through broadening of the tax base.

This would help achieve the next year’s collection target of Rs1,952 billion, he added.

Regarding tax evaders, Siddique said that out of 71,000 prospective evaders, as many as 18,000 have filed their income tax returns.

Some of them have declared their source of income to be ‘income from abroad’ and that claim will now be probed, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1st, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Budget 2011-12: Tax shock to residents</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/199910/budget-2011-12-tax-shock-to-residents</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/199910/budget-2011-12-tax-shock-to-residents#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 01 Jul 11 01:40:45 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[azam.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=199910</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[CDA proposes 90% hike in property tax; budget fails to address water, sanitation and environmental issues.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The cash-strapped Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Thursday presented Rs23.99 billion budget for the year 2011-12, based, according to experts, on ‘desire’ and not ‘reality’ giving a shock of property and water taxes’ hike to the citizens.


The budget document doesn’t offer any solution to the mounting problems of the capital city like shortage of housing units, shortage of drinking water, increasing pollution, lack of proper sanitation, waste disposal and the stalled development of residential sectors.

Major chunk of the total outlay, Rs5.4 billion, has been allocated for non-development expenditure, including salaries, allowances, pensions, repair and maintenance of housing units, showing an increase of 3.7 per cent over last years Rs4 billion.

Around 70 per cent of total budget would be spent on development projects and rest on non-development expenditures that include payment of salaries, pensions and other allowances. Among the development projects that the CDA is expected to execute in the upcoming fiscal year, development of Park Enclave, widening of Kashmir Highway, construction of interchange and flyovers on Islamabad Expressway and above all the development of residential sectors by land-sharing formula are the main ones.

The civic agency expects to get a revenue of Rs3 billion from municipal bonds, Rs13.2 billion from self-financing projects, including sale of plots at the proposed Park Enclave, Diplomatic Enclave, Rs1.60 billion as a grant and Rs2.08 billion from the federal government under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), Rs4.06 billion from property tax, water charges, toll and other municipal charges.

The good news, however, for the inhabitants of the “much-neglected” G and I sectors is that the civic agency has set aside Rs3 billion for the upgradation of these localities, including uplifting of mini markets. Meanwhile, hundreds of industries that are functional in the I-sector, polluting the city environment for quite some time now, are expected to continue working there. The civic agency had earlier planned to move the industrial units out of the city, which could not be executed due to lack of funds and political will. No development on this proposal is expected in the near future. Moreover, the solid waste plant for the capital city is still under negotiation.

While announcing the budget, CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi said the financial plan focused on the projects of public welfare, environmental upgradation, development of roads and residential sectors. In line with the chairman’s words, CDA is going to develop a residential sector for the filthy rich, namely Park Enclave, after 20 years. The sector is being termed by some officials as the “Islamabad’s jewel, for high and the mighty”.

The city managers are also planning to spend huge amount on development of Zone-IV, which stretches over 70,000 acres, linking it with Simly Dam Road to up the real estate value. Before construction was allowed in the Zone-IV area of Margalla National Hills Park, some influential people purchased large chunks of land from CDA at nominal rates and that land was later sold to others at much higher price, the case is currently with the Supreme Court.

Responding to a question, Elahi said that since 2000, property and water charges had not been revised and CDA was eyeing this as an area through which it could increase its revenue. But this increase would only be applicable after the cabinet’s approval.

The civic authority has proposed a 90 per cent increase in the property and water charges. Around Rs200 million have been allocated for Prime Minister’s Rapid Bus Transit project to reduce the traffic woes of the residents of the twin cities; Rs50 million have been allocated for rainwater harvesting and promotion of tourism. To accommodate the tourists, CDA in collaboration with the local traders would ensure to reduce the travelling expenses by announcing subsidies on tickets and food.

The authority’s former member of finance, Saeedur Rehman, told The Express Tribune that the size of the budget is much bigger but based on “desires”. However, CDA spokesperson Ramzan Sajid dispelled this notion saying CDA is expecting to earn more than half of its projected revenue through sale of plots, especially in Diplomatic Enclave, E-11 and Park Enclave in the wake of improvement in the real estate business.

Furthermore, the CDA chairman said that the civic agency has planned to launch municipal bonds to generate over Rs3 billion for the civic body. For this purpose an agreement has already been signed with three private banks - Habib Bank (HBL), United Bank (UBL) and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB).

The authority expects revenue of Rs4.1 billion from property tax and municipal charges, proposing 90 per cent hike in property tax for posh areas. The revenue from this head last year was Rs915 million.

Justifying the move CDA spokesperson Ramazan Sajid said “the increase in charges of water and property were only for corrective measures to streamline the tax network”.

As per budgetary estimates, around Rs800 million have been allocated for the projects that aim at environment protection of the city. These also include plantation of half a million saplings. The environment package also comprises beautification of road sides and medians and that rainwater harvesting is made mandatory at domestic level.

More execution, less planning

The Finance Wing will get Rs200 million for the upcoming year due to the IT related projects which have been added to its domain, whereas the amount allocated for administrative expenses has witnessed a drastic fall in the new budget in lieu of what the authority claims to be “measures to control its internal expenses”. Moreover, lesser amount has been allocated for the Planning and Design Wing as the most of the projects to be worked upon in the upcoming year, are ones which were planned previously. Engineering Wing gets the largest chunk with 52 per cent of the total budgets, whereas the amount allocated for environment-related projects has also been increased.

Ambitious plans to boost revenue

The Finance Wing will get Rs200 million for the upcoming year due to the IT related projects which have been added to its domain, whereas the amount allocated for administrative expenses has witnessed a drastic fall in the new budget in lieu of what the authority claims to be “measures to control its internal expenses”. Moreover, lesser amount has been allocated for the Planning and Design Wing as the most of the projects to be worked upon in the upcoming year, are ones which were planned previously. Engineering Wing gets the largest chunk with 52 per cent of the total budgets, whereas the amount allocated for environment-related projects has also been increased. The other two sources are primarily dependent upon the government where development and maintenance funds by the state will feed the authority’s revenue.

Much to spend on

The expenditure has been divided between different wings of the authority with the Engineering Wing getting the largest share at Rs6260 million for the upcoming year. The authority plans to complete development of various residential sectors and work on different highways of the city, which will take up most of the share of the amount allocated for expenditure. Moreover, due to the austerity measures being introduced by CDA, lesser amount has been set aside for the administration. Reserves are also expected to rise this year. Moreover, Rapid Bus Transit, up-gradation of markets and extension of Kurri Road are some of the other main projects.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1st, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Budgets 2011-2012: Karachi gets Rs70.7b</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/199049/budgets-2011-2012-karachi-gets-rs70-7b</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/199049/budgets-2011-2012-karachi-gets-rs70-7b#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 29 Jun 11 20:55:30 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=199049</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Hyderabad’s budget goes up almost Rs1b from last year.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The City District Govern-ment Karachi (CDGK) budget of Rs70.79 billion for the year 2011-2012 was presented to and approved by City Administrator Fazlur Rehman on Wednesday.


“The provincial government has approved funds for the CDGK and has not increased grants or the Octroi and Zilla (district) tax despite a 15% salary increment,” said Rehman. The budget has a surplus of Rs102 million and does not include a new development scheme under the District Annual Development Programme (DADP). It also fails to mention any plans for rural areas, Gadap town, Bin Qasim town or Keamari. However, allocations have been made for the citizens community board which is financed by the CDGK. According to the budget, more allowances were made to the Institute of Infectious Diseases in Manghopir as compared to the four major heart hospitals in the city.

“The CDGK will suffer a financial loss if the provincial government delays the release of financial documents,” said DCO Karachi Muhammad Hussein Syed.

Mirpurkhas budget

Mirpurkhas District Administrator Ghulam Hussain Memon presented his balanced and tax-free budget of Rs4.1 billion at Ghulam Nabi Shah Hall.

The provincial government has decided to set up a medical college accompanied by a teaching hospital in Mirpurkhas and the district government has set aside Rs20 million to buy the land.

He said that a sufficient amount has been allocated for sports and recreational activities while Rs2 million has been set aside for pro-poor interventions and hepatitis B vaccines.

Forty-four million rupees have been allocated for District Headquarter Hospital, Mirpurkhas, Taluqa Headquarter Hospital in Digri and Kot Ghulam Muhammad and rural health centres and Rs1.5 million has been set aside for the ARV/ASV vaccinations.

Civil Hospital, Mirpurkhas will get Rs1.85 million for eye operations and laser technology and the dialysis centres in Mirpurkhas, Kot Ghulam Muhammad and Digri will get Rs12 million.

They have even earmarked money for a documentary and book on the history and important places of Mirpurkhas.

Hyderabad budget

A tax-free, surplus budget of Rs7.2 billion has been approved for the financial year 2011-2012 for Hyderabad. The District Coordination Officer (DCO) Aftab Ahmed Khatri, who is also the district government administrator, approved the budget in a simple ceremony held at the Zila Nazim Secretariat on Wednesday.

The budget for this year is a considerable increase from the Rs6.1 billion allotted to Hyderabad on June 30, 2010 for 2010-2011. The district government has not imposed any new taxes. The expenditure this year has been estimated at Rs7.2 billion, leaving behind a surplus of Rs0.2 million.

The Sindh finance department has provided Rs6.1 billion while the remainder is expected from the district Octroi Zila Tax (OZT) and revenue receipts from the district and the defunct District Council Hyderabad.

The district has decided to spend almost 80% of its total budget on education. The Rs5.8 billion will include Rs126 million for a ‘school-specific budget’.

Similarly Rs1 million, roughly 13% of the total, have been earmarked for health. The DCO said that 81% will be spent on salaries, Rs 4.9 billion, while Rs0.8 billion is for the non-salary component. An amount of Rs0.6 billion will be spent on development.

Khatri said that due to the 15% increase in basic pay for government employees, a 25% enhancement in travel allowances, and the introduction of a ‘school-specific budget’, the budget for development has been narrowed down.

Last year, there was an increase in the expenses of the district government Hyderabad because of the 50% raise in basic salaries of employees, 100% increase in medical allowance for non-gazetted employees and an increase of 15% of the basic salaries in the medical allowance of the gazetted employees.
with additional input by Afaq Ahmed Khan and Junaid  Khanzada

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>The fiscal facts of life</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/198828/the-fiscal-facts-of-life</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/198828/the-fiscal-facts-of-life#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 29 Jun 11 17:31:58 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[khurram.husain]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=198828</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[IMF noticed problems in revenue projections and financing plan long before hand of God could be blamed for slippages.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Well that’s a wrap folks. The Finance Bill 2011 passed the National Assembly largely unmolested. What now?

The IMF team will be visiting once the consolidated numbers from the concluded fiscal year 2010 -2011 are in, and that should take till July 15, as per the finance ministry announcement. The first institutional response to the budgetary numbers will be delivered then, although the visit is usually a private affair and the content of the IMF’s feedback is rarely shared with the public, unless the feedback happens to be positive that is, which has not happened in many years.

Then comes the first auction of treasury bills of the new fiscal year, a chance for the money markets to deliver their unemotional verdict. The outgoing fiscal year has seen yields increase by 100 to 150 basis points depending on tenor, and not all of this increase is attributable to inflationary expectations. Much of it was a vote of no-confidence in the government’s financing plan for its fiscal deficit projections, a bet by the markets that the government would not be able to raise the funds required for its spending and would be forced to either borrow or print the money.

Then comes the pronouncement of the State Bank of Pakistan in the first monetary policy announcement of the new fiscal year, sometime in end July. The State Bank will give us an unhindered view of the government’s financing plan for the fiscal deficit, unhindered by any political considerations at least.

Last year, this powerful troika took a very grim view of the fiscal numbers. The markets started pricing in higher borrowings by (the) government right from the beginning. And this was long before the floods. The IMF, in its subsequent pronouncements, at the Pakistan Development Forum for instance, was careful to refer to the ‘pre-flood’ numbers, to underscore the fact that they saw problems in the revenue projections and the financing plan long before the hand of God could be blamed for the slippages.

This is the reason why you see a mad dash to pull together revenues in the last few days of the fiscal year. Refunds are being withheld, claims being pursued aggressively and dire warnings being issued to either declare a tax liability in return for an amnesty or face consequences. This is the back story behind the dispute between the KESC and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for instance, just like how the FBR froze the PSO’s accounts against a tax liability in the closing days of the last quarter to help meet a target.

This is also the reason why tax experts will usually deduct 20-odd billion from the revenue numbers once the consolidated accounts are presented to correct for the withholdings that have been forcibly included as revenue.

We’ll wait to see what the troika of the economic world makes of the fiscal numbers of the outgoing year once they are presented. But there is this much to say: This has probably been the most disastrous fiscal year of this government. The main reason for the disaster is simple, this is the year when the government’s relationship with its creditors broke down comprehensively. Part of the reason for this is the eroding trust between the government and the United States, which ‘speaks softly but carries a big stick’ at the IMF executive board.

But a large part of the reason has to do with the weak ownership of the reform process begun in November 2008. Principally, the reforms focused on revenue mobilisation and, despite a strong push to get a value added tax (VAT) going, “political consensus eluded” this government, to borrow a phrase from the finance minister’s budget speech. It would be a good idea for the minister to think about how and why the consensus “eluded” his efforts, considering not a single person from the government was able to articulately present the case for a VAT before the public in the crucial days when the bill was being debated in committee.

Repairing this breach with the creditors will be job number one for fiscal year 2012.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Development budget: Lahore - Punjab govt’s favourite</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/198392/development-budget-lahore-punjab-govt%e2%80%99s-favourite</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/198392/development-budget-lahore-punjab-govt%e2%80%99s-favourite#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 29 Jun 11 04:01:27 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[mohammed.rizwan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Punjab]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=198392</guid>
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				<![CDATA[40% of last year’s development funds spent in one city.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The Punjab government has spent around 40 per cent of its development budget for the year ending June 30 in Lahore leaving very little for the rest of the 35 districts in Punjab.


In total disregard for its claims of developing the downtrodden areas of the province, the Punjab government spent Rs105 billion of the allocated budget of Rs193 billion. And 40 per cent of Rs105 billion was spent on development projects in Lahore only which include Ring Road, Kalma Chowk flyover and underpass, the proposed Muslim Town flyover and Multan Road.

In 2009, 60 per cent of a total development budget of Rs150 billion was spent in Lahore. To top that, the government has set aside Rs21 billion for block allocation – funds set aside for an unspecified project and can be spent anywhere after the chief minister’s approval. This sum too is being spent mostly on Lahore’s infrastructure.

Opposition MPAs from South Punjab including Mohsin Leghari and Sardar Ather Gurchani have frequently voiced their concern against what they termed province’s bureaucracy.

But now MPAs on the treasury benches too have started criticising the government, albeit privately. One of them told The Express Tribune when she sought approval for water supply schemes in the far off district of south Punjab, she was told that she would only get the money for a scheme in Lahore.

Development projects are so heavily skewed in Lahore’s favour that during a meeting, chairman planning and development told Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif that Lahore needs to produce its own resources if it wants the funds. Soon after, a summary was moved to the chief minister which proposed that funds can be raised by awarding ownership rights to more than 20,000 dwellings on encroached land. The proposal envisaged to raise Rs2 billion instantly and has, according to the summary, the potential to raise Rs12 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Balochistan budget: Assembly unanimously approves Rs128b outlay</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/198393/balochistan-budget-assembly-unanimously-approves-rs128b-outlay</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/198393/balochistan-budget-assembly-unanimously-approves-rs128b-outlay#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 29 Jun 11 03:51:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Balochistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Balochistan Assembly unanimously approved the budget for the next fiscal year, with an outlay of Rs128.71 billion.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Balochistan Assembly unanimously approved the budget for the next fiscal year on Tuesday, with an outlay of Rs128.71 billion.


Speaker Aslam Bhootani presided over the session. The House adopted 50 demands of grants to the tune of Rs128.71 billion. Estimates for development expenditures in the next budget are Rs31.35 billion while Rs97.35 billion have been earmarked for development expenditures.

Balochistan Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd presented 50 demands for grants in the House which were approved unanimously by lawmakers when the speaker put them up for vote one by one. However, the budget for the next financial year was approved within a span of 40 minutes.

The Balochistan government faces no criticism or difficulties while approving the budget for fiscal years 2011-12 as no opposition member turned up or brought any cut-motion. The Balochistan Assembly has one opposition leader, Yar Mohammad Rind, who did not attend the sessions except on the day he was sworn in.

Soon after the budget was approved, all the members got up and embraced the finance minister for what they considered to be a “good budget”.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Budget debate: Smooth sailing for Balochistan govt</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/197751/budget-debate-smooth-sailing-for-balochistan-govt</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/197751/budget-debate-smooth-sailing-for-balochistan-govt#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jun 11 04:52:52 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Shezad Baloch]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Balochistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=197751</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Opposition comprises one member who hasn’t shown up after being sworn in.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The budget debate in the Balochistan Assembly was a drab affair as all but one assembly members are on treasury benches – most of the lawmakers spent most of the time in praising everyone there is to praise in the provincial and federal governments. The one said to be in opposition has not attended any session since the swearing-in ceremony.


While, most legislators appreciated the provincial government for unveiling what they described as a people-friendly and balanced budget for the next fiscal year, a few of them, however, criticised the federal government for not supporting a sustainable economic progress in the province.

Lawmakers also called for ensuring law and order in the province, besides stressing the need for strengthening the capability of civilian law-enforcement agencies.

Syed Eshan Shah said the provincial development budget was merely Rs60 billion which was much less than other provinces.

Criticising the federal government for a huge gap between earmarked money for the province and actual disbursements, Ehsan Shah said: “The federal government…earmarked Rs30-40 billion but ended up releasing only Rs10 billion.

After considering these facts, no economist can even think that Balochistan’s economy will stand on a par with other provinces after two or even three decades,” he added.

Citing a report published by State Bank of Pakistan, Ehsan Shah said that the federal government was also not doing enough to bring foreign investment in Balochistan.

He said that lawmakers should be provided the details of the Rs15 billion allocated for development expenditures in the supplementary budget.

“The BNP-Awami was not taken into confidence about an increase in development expenditures which is estimated to increase from Rs7 to Rs15 billion,” he added.

Terming the devolution process burdensome, Dr Fauzia Nazir Marri predicted that it would precipitate a far worse economic crisis. She said that the provincial government should take up the issue with the federal government, otherwise the province will not be able to pay the salaries of its employees.

She also called for the production of records of under-construction roads and said that the ministry concerned should produce record dating back at least 10 years, indicating which roads are still incomplete.

Criticising the federal government, she said that over time, the Centre had allocated Rs137 billion on highways and roads in Balochistan, but spent only Rs7 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Pakistan’s fiscal woes: Budget-making in an economic crisis</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/197164/pakistan%e2%80%99s-fiscal-woes-budget-making-in-an-economic-crisis</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/197164/pakistan%e2%80%99s-fiscal-woes-budget-making-in-an-economic-crisis#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 27 Jun 11 05:08:01 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[dr.ehtisham.ahmed]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=197164</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Government seems to have missed the bus on rationalising the tax system or gain the trust of the taxpayers.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The budget for the current fiscal year exudes an air of complacency. There have been a number of critical commentaries, including by Messrs Abid Hasan, Sakib Sherani and Ashfaque Khan. There also was a spirited defence by Farahnaz Isphani in this paper. But, as the finance minister has correctly stated, the budget document is less important than the overall strategy to address the difficulties facing the nation.


Critical in determining the policy stance is an assessment of where the country finds itself and its medium-term prospects. In 2007/8, there was an unsustainable fiscal position and a collapse in reserves. The IMF provided a bridging loan of over $8 billion (later raised to $11.5 billion) because of the administration’s promise to raise the tax/GDP ratio from 9% towards 14% to address repayments coming due from 2012. But the government’s medium-term strategy paper now targets a tax/GDP ratio of 10.1% over the next three years. And the target for 2011/12 is 9.1% of GDP, which several commentators suggest is not achievable. Like Alice in Wonderland, FBR has to run faster to stand still. We are more vulnerable than in 2007. How will we repay the IMF, and address our now growing unsustainable total debt? Who will ride to our rescue this time?

In addition, the new tax revenue targets will mean that much of the current spending being devolved under the 18th Amendment will become unfunded mandates, with serious consequences for basic health care and education — especially for the poor. Expecting a provincial surplus under these circumstances is naïve at best.

While some of the sentiments in the budget about widening the tax base are to be welcomed, the approach to tax policy in the budget is baffling, especially the decision to eliminate excises and reduce the existing GST, in the presence of mounting security and social pressures and in the middle of a full-blown economic crisis and a failed IMF program.

Excises are used in most countries in order to meet multiple objectives: taxing “bads” on health grounds (eg, tobacco and other items); for environmental protection; and for distributional purposes (to tax more heavily items consumed by the rich--e.g., cars and luxury items). This permits the proper “arms-length” functioning of a single rate GST, need to reform the FBR so that it does not require special SROs (which are really only to the advantage of vested interests, or well to do consumers). So why are excises being eliminated by a party that claims the legacy of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto?

Despite the talk about removing exemptions, SRO283 of April 1, 2011 still stands, and it is not clear which items are “protected”. A lower GST rate on luxury carpets or textiles does not protect the industry, but provides a benefit to the consumers of such goods. A cascading and lower rate for some sectors makes nonsense of the talk about “fixing the GST”. Continuation of the SRO culture, together with the planned merger of the FBR IT with NADRA, without a completely reformed bureaucracy and tight safeguards, will provide ample opportunities for new rent-seeking.

Together, the government’s proposals appear to put greater weight on the extra rupee that goes to the rich as opposed to the poor. The situation is compounded by the unspoken “I” tax - the elephant in the room — or the “inflation tax.” The strategy appears to be increasingly to keep borrowing from the banking system (external loans are now going to be hard to find, given Pakistan’s credit ratings), and then inflate out of the liabilities. Such a policy proved disastrous in Latin America. The inflation tax is the most regressive instrument, attractive though it may be to a cash-strapped government. The poorest and the middle classes pay it, given that the rich are fully hedged with domestic and external assets.

The government missed a chance to start to rationalise direct taxation, together with a more efficient assignment of responsibilities and the creation of an arms’ length tax administration that would be trusted by the provinces as well as taxpayers.

It may be possible to rationalise this approach to tax policy on the grounds of expediency, but it can hardly represent the preferences of a government committed to the welfare of the poor.

The writer has served as Executive Director on the IMF for Pakistan and as adviser to the Finance Minister on tax reforms. He teaches at the London School of Economics

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Balochistan Assembly: MPAs show ‘no interest’ in budget discussion</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/196601/balochistan-assembly-mpas-show-%e2%80%98no-interest%e2%80%99-in-budget-discussion</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/196601/balochistan-assembly-mpas-show-%e2%80%98no-interest%e2%80%99-in-budget-discussion#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 26 Jun 11 05:16:53 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Shezad Baloch]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Balochistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=196601</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Several members dismiss development fund allocations as ‘inappropriate’.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Lawmakers showed no interest in debating the Balochistan budget which led the speaker to adjourn the session for 15 minutes due to a lack of quorum.


Saturday’s session resumed afterwards but few members stood up to discuss the budget.

Provincial Minister for Agriculture Assad Baloch said the federal government did not provide funds in accordance with the province’s needs. “We need more dams to boost our agriculture sector, but the federal government has allocated Rs500 million only for the construction of dams which is lesser than our expectations,” he said.

Provincial minister Nasreen Khethran also expressed her resentment over not disclosing the details of development expenditures in the supplementary budget. “It is ironic that over Rs14 billion have been allocated or spent but details were not mentioned in the provincial PSDP,” she remarked. Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Maulana Abdul Bari was one of the few lawmakers who lauded the provincial government for presenting a ‘good budget’. Lawmakers also welcomed the fresh agreement with Iran under which electricity will be imported to overcome Balochistan’s power crisis.

Meanwhile, the Balochistan Employees Efficiency and Discipline Bill 2011 was also tabled in the House on Saturday. Speaker Aslam Bhootani presided over the session, while Minister for Services and General Administration Sardar Sanaullah Zehri tabled the bill. According to the bill’s text provided by the Assembly Secretariat, the Balochistan Province Removal from Service enforces the Special Powers Ordinance 2000 under which disciplinary cases of government servants are dealt. The centre had repealed the said ordinance earlier at federal level and has desired that the provincial governments repeal their respective ordinances too. Accordingly, the Balochistan Employees Efficiency and Discipline Act 2011 was drafted and approved by the provincial cabinet in its meeting held on March 17, 2011.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Balochistan Assembly: Supplementary budget approved in 25 minutes</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/195969/balochistan-assembly-supplementary-budget-approved-in-25-minutes</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/195969/balochistan-assembly-supplementary-budget-approved-in-25-minutes#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 25 Jun 11 05:02:06 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Shezad Baloch]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Balochistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=195969</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Mandokhel demands details of development spending.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Balochistan Assembly unanimously approved the Rs16.3 billion supplementary budget for the outgoing financial year in just 25 minutes.


The short session included a recitation from the Holy Quran and a prayer for Baloch intellectual Professor Saba Dashtiari, who was gunned down in broad daylight on June 1 in Quetta.

Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd tabled the supplementary budget for fiscal year 2011, which is the post-hoc authorisation of expenditure overruns by the government.

He was interrupted by Syed Ehsan Shah and Jaffar Mandokhel of the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid who asked for permission to speak about the 2012 budget.

However, Speaker Aslam Bhootani said that since the supplementary budget had been presented, it would have to be dealt with before debate on the 2012 budget could begin.

This led to chaos on the assembly floor with several house members simultaneously requesting permission to speak.

Yet despite the confusion, the house was able to wrap up the debate in less than 25 minutes with very little debate since most assembly members seemed far more interested in talking about the 2012 budget than looking at the fact that the Balochistan government had overspent its budget allocations by well over 12%.

Mandokhel demanded details about the 2011 development budget.

“More than Rs 14 billion were allocated for development expenditures but details have not been provided to lawmakers about these huge allocations. No one knows where this money was spent and why details are being concealed from MPAs.

If the defence budget can be made public, then why not Balochistan’s development expenditures?”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Treasury triumph: Brushing aside opposition cuts, Sindh Assembly passes budget worth Rs457b</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/195663/treasury-triumph-brushing-aside-opposition-cuts-sindh-assembly-passes-budget-worth-rs457b</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/195663/treasury-triumph-brushing-aside-opposition-cuts-sindh-assembly-passes-budget-worth-rs457b#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jun 11 20:45:12 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Hafeez Tunio]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=195663</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[No cut motion has ever been passed since Independence: opposition.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Rejecting all the cut motions put forward by the opposition, the Sindh Assembly passed a budget of Rs457 billion for the coming year on Friday.


In the upcoming budget, Rs161 billion has been allocated for the Annual Development Programme (ADP), with total estimated revenue receipts of Rs458.4 billion and an estimated surplus of Rs882 million.

During the session, the joint opposition moved around 653 cut motions to reduce operational funds allocated for different departments. They called it unnecessary burdens on the national exchequer but the treasury benches insisted that they had already cut down around Rs15 billion and further reductions would affect the performance of these departments.

Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro presided over the session, which started at around 10:30 am. Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah presented 59 demands for grants to meet the expenditure for the upcoming financial year ending June 20, 2012, but opposition members stressed on reducing some funds from the grants.

Moving their cut motions, they suggested that the funds can be spent on the construction of houses, hospitals and roads in flood-hit areas.

In his first demand, Shah sought Rs3.99 billion to meet state expenditures but the opposition members moved 18 cut motions against this demand.

Pakistan Muslim League — Quaid’s Chetan Mal Arwani wanted to reduce Rs100,000 from operational expenses of the Sindh Service Tribunal, provincial public safety and police complaint commission secretariat. “These departments will not be affected if Rs100,000 are deducted and spent on the welfare of patients,” he said.

Opposition leader Jam Madad Ali wanted to reduce Rs300,000 from the operational expenses of CM and Governor houses, the housing and town planning department, and enquiries and anti-corruption establishments.

There were four cut motions put forward by PML-Q’s Razzaque Rahimoon. Marvi Rashdi and Nusrat Seher Abbasi from the same party also put forward six cut motions. The finance minister pointed out that the opposition had no idea how to move cut motions. “Cut motions are economy cuts but opposition members have neither mentioned policy cuts nor have they disapproved government policy,” he said.

When the opposition leader suggested reducing the expenses of police and education departments, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah objected. “The police are guarding every citizen and it is high time that we encourage them by giving them more facilities. No one should object to funds allocated for them.” Ali said that, “since Independence, not a single cut motion has been passed. This democratic government should come forward and set a precedent”.

The opposition was upset when the treasury benches made fun of Rahimoon’s English accent as he presented his cut motion. “We know that you people have received education from abroad and grammar schools but you should learn the ethics of speaking in the assembly,” said Ali.

Later, the speaker asked the finance minister to put the budgetary proposal for the year 2011-2012 before the house. It was passed unanimously.

Bonus for hardworking workers

The chief minister announced that three-month salaries will be given to the employees of the finance and law departments and the Sindh Assembly secretariat for their hard work during the budget days.

Ban on mobiles, computers

As usual, the speaker had to call out to the MPAs several times to stop using their mobile phones and computers during the session. “If you will not abide by the rules and follow the decorum of the assembly, I will have no other option but to ask you to go out,” he said.

He said that he was the first speaker of provincial assemblies who had allowed live coverage of the proceedings so everyone, including the media, should follow the decorum. Senior Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq, who was recently caught watching videos on his iPad, said that there is no privacy in the house. It seems like independence has been given just for “character assassination” of the members, he said.

Later, the speaker adjourned the session till Saturday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Punjab Assembly: Members ignore supplementary budget</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/195751/punjab-assembly-members-ignore-supplementary-budget</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/195751/punjab-assembly-members-ignore-supplementary-budget#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jun 11 20:15:49 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[abdul.manan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Punjab]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=195751</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[All but one give speeches on Money Bill passed on Thursday.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Punjab Assembly on Friday started discussion on the Rs87.43 billion supplementary budget for the outgoing fiscal year. Only one, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Ehsanul Haq Nolatia, of the 17 members who spoke during the session discussed the supplementary budget. The rest gave speeches on the Money Bill for the upcoming year (2011-12) the assembly had already passed on Thursday.


The house will debate the supplementary budget for two more days (on Monday and Tuesday). Voting on the budget will take place on Tuesday.

Nolatia said such a large supplementary budget was an indication of the bad governance in the province. He questioned more than Rs7 billion spent in pensions over and above the amount allocated for the purpose. Also, he criticised the government for making allocations for the flyover project at Kalma Chowk in Lahore without approval from the house.

He said taxpayers’ money should be spent only after the government has sought permission from the house. He said an additional Rs689,000 was spent by Agriculture Improvement and Research Department on research last year. He said the government should have added these allocations in its Money Bill last year.

Other members requested the speaker that since they were not given a chance to speak during Thursday’s debate on 2011-12 Money Bill they should be given permission to deliver their speeches on Friday. These included Qaiser Abbas, Sardar Sher Ali Khan Gorchani, Najmi Saleem, Sakina Shaheen, Qamar Ahmad Chaudhry, Sheikh Alauddin, Rana Munawar Ghous and Ahmad Saeed.

Of the Rs87.43 billion supplementary budget, Rs371,515,000 was spent by Land Revenue Department,  Rs248,986,000 by Forests Department, Rs3.4 billion (Rs3,460,447,000) by Irrigation and Land Reclamation, Rs149,314,000 by Jails and Convict settlements, Rs2.34 billion (Rs2,340,447,000) by Police Department, Rs137,838,000 by Public Health, Rs262,639,000 by Agriculture, Rs163,195,000 by Industries, Rs1.83 billion (Rs1,836,741,000) by Communications, Rs7.2 billion (Rs7,224,895,000) in flood relief activities, Rs7.8 billion (Rs7,803,856,000) to give pensions and Rs38,918,000 for general administration.

The remaining amount has been spent under the following heads: administration of justice, civil works, interest on debt and other obligations, floating debt discharge, payment of loans from federal government, registration charge on account of motor vehicle acts, taxes and duties, museum, fisheries, cooperation, stationary and printing, civil defence, state trading in medical stores and coal, agriculture improvement and research. The assembly had last year approved a budget of Rs583.6 billion.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Budget 2011-12: A World Bank/IMF prescription?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/195316/budget-2011-12-a-world-bankimf-prescription</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/195316/budget-2011-12-a-world-bankimf-prescription#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jun 11 04:01:58 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[nusrat.javeed]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=195316</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Sheikh is but a glorious babu, deputed to manage Pakistan’s economy on behalf of the World Bank/IMF.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[After passing the finance bill, the National Assembly is now rushing through approval for expenditures by various ministries, beyond the amount allocated in the previous budget. The opposition did try to block the passage of some demands, forcing the finance minister to take the mike to defend these expenses, but he behaved like a real technocrat.

Instead of clearly stating the compulsions to justify the excess expenditure, the arrogant economist in Sheikh often sounded like a sadistic teacher. With a taunting grin, the finance minister focused his speech on reprimanding the critical legislators for not being able to fathom the expenditures in an appropriate context. The manner in which Sheikh delivered his speech often reminded me of Dr Mehbubul Haq.

Indeed the late doctor was a brilliant economist. He also had an awe-inspiring capacity to juggle with figures for spinning feel-good stories. This instilled a suicidal kind of arrogance in him.

Eventually, most legislators ganged up against him and disregarding the solid support Haq used to relish from the Zia-led junta and the donors’ community, even a lie-low type like Muhammad Khan Junejo had to remove him from the finance ministry in 1986.

Even after presenting the second budget, Hafeez Sheikh is yet not able to convey the philosophy, if there is any, behind the Zardari-Gilani government’s economic policy. This compounds the general feeling that Sheikh is but a glorious babu, deputed to manage Pakistan’s economy on behalf of the World Bank/IMF combine. He has yet to discover that an elected government draws its legitimacy and strength from treasury members.

Getting approval for the budget this year could have created a huge embarrassment for the government, when not the opposition, but at least 35 ruling party members joined hands to resist the imposition of GST on agricultural inputs.

In the end, President Zardari had to summon the agitating legislators to his office. They were given a long lecture on the hard facts that force Pakistan to embrace ‘the IMF narrative.’ No wonder, whispers predicting the appointment of a ‘political face’ to head the finance ministry are growing louder. Sheikh Sahib can continue to provide the government with ‘intellectual input’ as the minister for planning. Although, a reliable source claimed that while Sheikh accepted the portfolio, he bluntly told President Zardari that he would only work as the finance minister and would want out if he were offered any other ministry in a cabinet reshuffle.

Chaudhary Ahmed Mukhtar can but wait. At best, we can see him moving to the ministry of water and power, if an anxiously negotiated deal with our Chinese friends for radically addressing the mess of circular debt is finalised. Otherwise, no one expects a major cabinet reshuffle, as usually happens after the passage of a budget in a parliamentary democracy.

Sources affiliated with the Prime Minister’s office would also not deny reports that Hina Rabbani Khar may be promoted as a full-fledged foreign minister. Although an unassuming and lie-low type, Khar was spotted by the press gallery as an assiduous note-taker after making it to the National Assembly for the first time in 2002. Soon afterwards, she was made the state minister for economic affairs and went on a number of foreign junkets under the patronage of a self-proclaimed deliverer of economic ‘miracles,’ Shaukat Aziz. Her supporters strongly believe that her experience, spanning almost a decade, at the ministry of economic affairs, has made her comfortably familiar with international affairs. It is time she is allowed to employ the experience she has accumulated to shine as the first woman foreign minister of Pakistan. If nothing else, it may at least boast a ‘soft image’ for Pakistan. Most people claimed the President was certainly interested to have a woman foreign minister, but preferred Dr Fehmida Mirza, the incumbent Speaker, for the job. It was generally presumed that after joining the ruling coalition, Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi would prefer to be elected as the Speaker, to savour the protocol-driven halo of this office. I now have it from credible sources that Dr Mirza was just not interested in the foreign ministry, facilitating Yousaf Raza Gilani to lobby successfully for upward mobility for Khar.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Supplementary budget: Power, debt, security widen gaping budget hole</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/195214/supplementary-budget-power-debt-security-widen-gaping-budget-hole</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/195214/supplementary-budget-power-debt-security-widen-gaping-budget-hole#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jun 11 03:33:31 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Shahbaz Rana]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=195214</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Parliament approves Rs387b in additional expenditure for the outgoing fiscal year.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The National Assembly on Thursday approved Rs387 billion in supplementary budget for the outgoing fiscal year amid sharp criticism by the opposition over massive spending without parliament’s approval.


The opposition termed the government’s spending over and above the budget approved by parliament last June a glaring example of “maladministration and inefficiency of the government.”

Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh tabled the budget overrun, equal to 2.2 per cent of the total size of the economy, for the approval of the National Assembly.

While the government had estimated a four per cent budget deficit for the outgoing fiscal year, the budget overrun would take that figure to roughly six per cent of GDP.

Budget overrun

As much as 87 per cent or Rs336.3 billion of the supplementary budget was spent on plugging the inefficiencies of the power sector. Another 12 per cent was spent on defence and security related expenditure.

The NA also approved Rs178 million for supplementary allowances and pensions, Rs15.8 million for Presidency’s renovation and Rs336.7 million for payment of mark-up on Pakistan Railways debt.

Other heads in the supplementary budget included Rs95.8 million for President’s staff’s expenses, Rs31.8 billion on domestic debt servicing and Rs14.2 billion on short-term foreign debt servicing.

“There is nothing unusual with a supplementary budget,” said the finance minister, adding that the constitution empowers the government to spend the additional funds.”

Shaikh said that the prime minister and the presidency related overspending is on account of employees’ expenses.

‘Maladministration’

“The book of supplementary grants is a clear reflection of the inefficiency of the government, maladministration and mismanagement of the economy,” said Engineer Khurram Dastagir Khan of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

It was preposterous that the government was withdrawing subsidies for the poor but granted Rs10.8 billion in subsidy to oil refineries and marketing companies, he added.

The opposition demanded that in future, the government should table supplementary grants above Rs1 billion for parliament’s approval.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>National Assembly: Lower house cannot critique upper house</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/195216/national-assembly-lower-house-cannot-critique-upper-house</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/195216/national-assembly-lower-house-cannot-critique-upper-house#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jun 11 03:28:19 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[umer.nangiana]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=195216</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Speaker terms lawmaker’s critique of Chairman Senate a ‘violation of rules’.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[In an attempt to protect their party member, the opposition in the National Assembly on Thursday pointed to insufficient quorum in the house, bringing the budget session to an abrupt end.


The move barred the speaker from giving a ruling against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz member Anusha Rehman for composing an article criticising the conduct of Senate chairman.

Both the treasury and opposition benches had a tacit understanding on quorum, with both sides agreeing not to point it out during the budget session.

PML-N’s Rana Tanveer, therefore, astonished members of the treasury benches by pointing out the lack of quorum at a time when most women lawmakers had stepped out to consult the Pakistan Peoples Party chief whip on a motion.

‘Dangerous precedent’

Speaking on a point of order, Law Minster Maula Bux Chandio objected to a member of the National Assembly writing in a newspaper about Senate chairman.

“A member of one house should not have commented on the conduct of the other house of parliament,” he said.

“It is setting a dangerous precedent.”

Despite PML-N lawmakers Mehtab Abbasi and Rana Tanveer’s insistence that Chandio’s point was irrelevant as “every member was free to write anything”, the speaker of the National Assembly Fehmida Mirza said that Rehman, who was not present in the house, had certainly violated rules.

The session was prorogued, however, before the speaker could give her ruling as the minimum number of members required for the conduct of the house was not met.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Sindh assembly: Supplementary budget worth Rs41.4b approved</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/195171/sindh-assembly-supplementary-budget-worth-rs41-4b-approved</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/195171/sindh-assembly-supplementary-budget-worth-rs41-4b-approved#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jun 11 20:51:03 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=195171</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[All cut motions presented by opposition leaders rejected by the ruling party.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Sindh Assembly passed the supplementary budget worth Rs41.4 billion by rejecting 171 motions on budget cuts worth Rs140 million presented by the joint opposition.


This budget includes Rs10.54 billion for disaster management, Rs8.15 billion for state trading, Rs7.13 for irrigation, Rs3.57 billion for agriculture and food, Rs2.6 billion for police, Rs2 billion for investment, Rs600 million for excise and taxation, Rs140 million for law and parliamentary affairs, Rs90 million for education, Rs40 million for information technology, Rs40 million for power and Rs30 million for rural development. Opposition members Abdul Razzaque Rahimoon of Pakistan Muslim League - Q, Marvi Rashdi and Nusrat Seher Abbasi of PML-F, opposition leader Jam Madad Ali, PML-Q Chetan Mal Arwani presented their cut motion.

Rashdi requested the government reduce Rs100,000 from the expenses of advisers and special assistants to the chief minister. Expenses worth Rs130 million were shown for them. Meanwhile, Rahimoon demanded a reduction of Rs100,000 from the expenses of forest and  wildlife department secretariat. These motions were, however, rejected. The opposition leader requested the ruling party to set a precedent to accept one of the cut motions seeking reduction of a burden on the national exchequer but all such motions were rejected and the budget was passed.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Punjab Assembly: Zaheer vows to move LHC against Unification Bloc</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/194939/punjab-assembly-zaheer-vows-to-move-lhc-against-unification-bloc</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/194939/punjab-assembly-zaheer-vows-to-move-lhc-against-unification-bloc#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jun 11 20:46:07 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[abdul.manan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Punjab]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=194939</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[PPP and Bloc members help government pass Finance Bill 2011.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Chaudhry Zaheeruddin, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) parliamentary leader, has vowed to move the Lahore High Court to seek the disqualification of Unification Bloc members for voting against their party on the Finance Bill 2011 in the Punjab Assembly on Thursday.


Backed by the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party and the Unification Bloc of PML-Q dissidents, the government was able to pass the bill comfortably by a voice vote, thus completing the budget approval process.

The Annual Budget Statement, which together with the Finance Bill constitutes the Money Bill, was passed on Wednesday.

Finance Minister Kamran Michael presented the Finance Bill at the start of the session, which began an hour late. The speaker put it up for approval, and the treasury benches, the PPP and the Unification Bloc supported it. A day earlier, the PPP had abstained from voting on the Annual Budget Statement.

Zaheeruddin objected and said the Unification Bloc members who voted for the bill should be disqualified. PML-Q MPAs Seemal Kamran and Dr Samia Amjad stood at their seats and pointed at Unification Bloc members that they said they had seen support the bill.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rana Sanaullah responded that objecting after the bill was approved was pointless.

Zaheeruddin rejected Sanaullah’s argument, saying his party had been trying to raise the matter on a point of order from the onset of proceedings, but the speaker had ignored their requests. He said that the Unification Bloc dissidents should be disqualified under Article 63(a) and he would submit a reference against them.

The speaker interrupted to point out that Zaheeruddin had already sent references against nine Unification Bloc members to the speaker. “You have moved the chief election commissioner (CEC) against nine Unification Bloc members so the matter is now sub judice. We should all avoid speaking on this issue,” Iqbal said.

Zaheeruddin was not moved. He said the speaker had failed to deliver justice against the dissidents and now he would move the Lahore High Court against the Unification Bloc.

Leader of the Opposition Raja Riaz said that he did not believe that the courts would be able to help Zaheeruddin because of ambiguities in the law on floor crossing.

Mian Atta Maneka, a senior member of the Unification Bloc, thanked the speaker for accepting that the bloc made up a majority of PML-Q members in the house and for allotting them separate seats.

Sanaullah said that the PPP had decided to support the PML-Nawaz government’s budget because it had realised when it imposed governor’s rule that it would not be able to form a government in the province.

He said that when Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf had split the PML to create the ‘Lota League’, his party had resolved to “bring back the turncoats”. He said that the PML-Q would soon be left with just the Chaudhrys of Gujrat and three women legislators. The rest, including Zaheeruddin, would return to the PML-N fold.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was in the house but did not speak.

The Lahore Ring Road Authority Bill 2011 and Punjab Food Authority Bill 2011 were also approved on Thursday.

When floor-crossing is illegal

According to Article 63(a) of the Constitution, a legislator is liable for disqualification if he or she votes differently to their parliamentary leader in the election of a chief minister or prime minister, in a vote of confidence or no-confidence in the chief minister or prime minister, or on a money bill.  A parliamentary party leader who wants a party member disqualified must send a reference to the speaker, who then decides whether to forward it to the chief election commissioner (CEC). The article does not state what recourse the mover has if the speaker decides not to forward the reference to the CEC. Changes to this procedure will come into effect under the 18th Amendment after the next general elections whereby the parliamentary party leader will be able to approach the CEC directly.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Demystifying the defence budget — I</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/194840/demystifying-the-defence-budget-%e2%80%94-i</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/194840/demystifying-the-defence-budget-%e2%80%94-i#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jun 11 16:54:02 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Dr Pervez Tahir]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=194840</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[A document called the ‘green book’ gives details in the section on defence. However, some demands are still left out.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[After the presentation of the federal budget earlier this month, the media reported an allocation of Rs495.2 billion for defence. When it came to approving demands for grants and appropriations by the National Assembly last week, the media reported a higher allocation of Rs505.7 billion, without explaining the addition of Rs10.7 billion. In varying degrees, the defence budget is a mystery the world over. What budget-makers say is never to be taken on face value. The total amount has to be estimated by aggregating the demands for grants and appropriations given in the budget in accordance with an accepted definition. Some serious investigation is also required to estimate allocations believed to be disguised. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute provides a generally accepted definition of defence expenditure, which has been followed here to the extent possible.

The amount of Rs495.2 is the official quick reference figure of the defence budget. The defence budget is classified as defence affairs and services, which includes the demands of the defence administration and defence services. Budget documents such as the “Annual Budget Statement” and the “Budget in Brief” contain this limited view. The defence budget goes up to Rs505.7 billion with the addition of the demands of airport security forces, meteorology, surveys of Pakistan, federal government educational institutions in cantonments and garrisons and the development expenditure of the Defence Division. A new document called the ‘green book’ gives out these details in the section on ministry of defence. Conceptually, however, some important demands are still left out. In the first place, the demands and the development expenditure of the Defence Production Division add another Rs2 billion. Secondly, military pensions amounting to Rs73.2 billion, shown as part of the demand of superannuation allowances and pensions since 2000, also belong here. Third, there is the allocation of an estimated Rs1.1 billion for the recurrent budget and seven development projects of defence-controlled universities. All these allocations add up to a neat sum of Rs582 billion.

Contingent liabilities refer to guarantees given by the government. A news story carried by this paper on June 5 revealed that an allocation of Rs150 billion shown in the “Budget in Brief” document as a grant to be made under contingent liabilities is to be used, among other things, for an armed services development programme. If this, in fact, is the case, then the total defence budget will be that much larger. There is no way of knowing exactly how much will be spent on the nuclear programme and intelligence agencies.

But let us stick to the figure of Rs582 billion, based as it is on clearly identified heads of expenditure. How much of a burden it is depends on the size of a set of ratios. First, this amount is 21 per cent of the federal government’s total budget for 2011-12. Second, the allocation would consume 29.8 per cent of the tax revenue. Third, the defence budget is estimated as 2.8 per cent of GDP. These values have to be contextualised to see the extent of the burden. A common practice is to compare the defence budget with the expenditure on the social sector. It is understood that a lower expenditure on defence will release resources for social sector. However, the Eighteenth Amendment to the constitution has changed that. The social sector is almost entirely the responsibility of the provinces and the money released by defence will most likely be utilised on other subjects in the federal domain.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Post-budget briefing: Balochistan to invest in its own resources</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/194583/post-budget-briefing-balochistan-to-invest-in-its-own-resources</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/194583/post-budget-briefing-balochistan-to-invest-in-its-own-resources#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jun 11 05:02:31 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Shezad Baloch]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Balochistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=194583</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Province claims that the private sector is disinterested in its mines and minerals.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Claiming a lack of interest by the private sector, the Balochistan government says that its focus for its 2012 budget will be investing in the province’s natural resources, including copper and gold mining at Reko Diq, towards which it has allocated Rs20 billion over two years.


Flanked by Finance Secretary Dostain Jamaldini, Balochistan Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd announced that the province plans to begin a big push towards utilising its own natural resources that includes buying significant stakes in the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL), both currently majority-owned by the federal government.

Addressing the post-budget press conference, the finance secretary handled nearly all of the technical questions, with the minister remaining quiet for much of the time.

The Balochistan government collects the smallest amount of revenues amongst any province, even when measured as a percentage of its own budget. Jamaldini sought to explain that by suggesting that the private sector in the province is miniscule, requiring the government to generate much of its revenue through its own investments. Nevertheless, the Balochistan government says it achieved 95% of its revenue targets in the first eleven months of the outgoing fiscal year.

“The main reason behind the small size of provincial receipts is the lack of a private sector in the province,” said Jamaldini. “The government relies on its own investment.”

The finance secretary then cited statistics to support his position, saying that 85% of the investment in the province last year was by public sector entities, with a relatively negligible contribution from the private sector.

For fiscal year 2012, Quetta has allocated Rs8.5 billion for its mineral investments, adding to the Rs12 billion it spent in the outgoing year. Jamaldini said that the provincial government was also planning on buying 25% of the shares of SSGC and PPL.

It is unclear how Balochistan plans on financing its acquisition. At Wednesday’s close of trading on the Karachi Stock Exchange, the two companies had a combined market capitalisation of about Rs275 billion.

To purchase a 25% share, assuming current prices hold, Balochistan would need to arrange for Rs68.8 billion, which is equal to 41% of the size of the 2012 provincial budget.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23rd,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Gambit pays off: Budget sails smoothly through parliament</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/194649/gambit-pays-off-budget-sails-smoothly-through-parliament</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/194649/gambit-pays-off-budget-sails-smoothly-through-parliament#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jun 11 03:04:07 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Shahbaz Rana]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=194649</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Major features of the finance bill remain intact.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[President Asif Ali Zardari’s new coalition appears to have passed its first test, with the Rs2.8 trillion federal budget for fiscal year 2012 passing the National Assembly by a comfortable margin, with none of the opposition’s proposed amendments to the bill being incorporated into the budget.


The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was joined by its coalition partners, the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PMl-Q) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in voting for the budget which ensured that the opposition was unable to prevent any of the major provisions of the finance bill from passing.

Unlike last year, when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz boycotted the vote, the main opposition party chose to remain in the chamber, proposed several amendments and then vote against the bill. The PML-N did, however, stage a walkout after the vote, but over an unrelated discussion over the recent verbal sparring match between party leader Nawaz Sharif and President Zardari.

While none of the opposition’s amendments were accepted, the government incorporated 20 of the 66 recommendations made by the Senate, including one that grants substantial retirement privileges to legislators. The upper house of Parliament is constitutionally barred from voting on the bill, but does send comments and recommendations.

The retirement plan for legislators includes perpetually free medical treatment for all parliamentarians, access to VIP guest houses, use of VIP lounges at airports, special passports and permanent access to all government departments and offices with special privileges on getting government appointments.

This package was the only amendment on which the PML-N did not oppose the government, though it initially objected that the retirement privileges should not be part of the money bill. National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza ruled that, given the financial implications of the plan, it could be incorporated as part of the budget.

“Bureaucrats will be left at the mercy of politicians,” said one senior official on the implications of the new post-retirement privileges for legislators.

Most of the major features of the budget that had been initially proposed by Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh appear to have been retained in the money bill, including a massive cut in subsidies, a removal of sales tax exemptions for several sectors, and a lowering of the overall sales tax rate from 17% to 16%.

The opposition’s proposal to lower the sales tax to 10% and raise the corporate income tax rate on banks from 35% to 40% was rejected by the treasury benches along with several other amendments.

Despite giving in to lobbying pressure and retaining some subsidies on agricultural inputs such as fertilisers, the government has not yet reflected the costs of its backtracking in the bill that passed the legislature on Wednesday. The budget deficit target remains at Rs851 billion, or about 4% of the total size of the economy.

Much of the government’s ability to meet that target depends on the degree to which the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) can improve its efficiency and crack down against tax evaders. The FBR claims it has identified 700,000 tax evaders and will be sending them tax notices over the next several months.

Most analysts have labelled the Rs1,952 billion revenue collection target “overambitious” and are sceptical of the government’s ability to stick to its fiscal promises. Up to 90% of the budget deficit is expected to be financed by borrowing from local banks, which is expected to crowd out the private sector and keep interest rates high for the fiscal year.

The finance bill also approved the quirk proposed by the finance minister that abolishes the special excise duty and lowers the sales
tax rate on importers on June 20, ten days before the rest of the country will have the same rates.

 

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23rd, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Punjab Assembly: Budget passed without a hitch, finance bill today</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/194316/punjab-assembly-budget-passed-without-a-hitch-finance-bill-today</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/194316/punjab-assembly-budget-passed-without-a-hitch-finance-bill-today#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jun 11 00:39:34 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[abdul.manan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Punjab]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=194316</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Treasury votes down Opp cut-motions as PPP, Unification Bloc abstain.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The treasury benches defeated six opposition cut-motions and passed the 2011-12 budget statement on Wednesday. The government is to present the Finance Bill in the Punjab Assembly today (Thursday).


The approved annual budget statement carried 43 demands for grants and was worth Rs654.74 billion. Six motions to cut funding for the police, health, education, state trading in food grains and sugar, agriculture and general administration were defeated.

Under the Constitution of Pakistan, the assembly must approve the budget documents and then the Finance Bill. Together they constitute the Money Bill, which once signed by the governor becomes an Act.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) opposed the demands for grants and presented six cut-motions. PML-Q dissidents in the Unification Bloc and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) supported the budget by abstaining from the vote on the cut-motions, thus allowing the treasury benches to pass the budget easily.

Speaking to The Express Tribune later, Mohsin Leghari of the PML-Q said that the speaker had not been asked to divide the house during the voting  so that it would be clear how the Unification Bloc dissidents vote – because the PPP had refused to present the demand as a joint opposition request. According to the Constitution, a parliamentarian that votes against their party on a money bill is liable to be disqualified.

He said that if the speaker had agreed to divide the house, the PML-Q would have sought to disqualify the Unification Bloc members. “The government will pass the finance bill in the same way,” he said.

Leader of the Opposition Raja Riaz said that President Asif Zardari had instructed the PPP to vote for the budget. The party wanted to avoid “the politics of turncoats”, he said, adding that they would vote for the Finance Bill too.

PML-Q parliamentary leader Chaudhry Zaheeruddin, speaking on the cut-motion on agriculture, said that during this government’s three-and-a-half years in power, wheat production had fallen by 0.5 percent, other grains by 30 per cent, rice by 8 per cent, cotton by 10 per cent and maize by 5 per cent. The population, meanwhile, had gone up by over 10 million.

Agriculture Minister Ahmad Ali Aulakh pointed out that the previous government’s allocations to agriculture of Rs712 million in 2004-2005, Rs925 million in 2005-2006 and Rs1,100 million in 2006-2007 was dwarfed by the 2011-12 allocation of Rs3.40 billion.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif responded to criticism from PML-Q legislator Seemal Kamran concerning funding for the Chand Bagh School, saying the school taught orphans and the poor.

He said that his government had allocated taxpayers’ money for projects exclusively for the poor. He said that the PML-Q government had allocated Rs200 million for the Beaconhouse School System in 2007-2008, Rs500 million for the Lahore University of Management Sciences in 2006-2007, Rs100 million for Rawalpindi Gymkhana and Rs50 million for Lahore Gymkhana in previous years.

Zaheeruddin said that the Punjab Assembly had approved billions of rupees for various projects in three years but he had not seen the province benefit from any project. He said that if the previous government had wasted taxpayers’ money, it was nothing compared to the losses from the Sasti Roti Scheme, Food Support Programme and “roads leading to Raiwind”.

Riaz said the PML-N had humiliated a national institution with its recent criticism of the army. “We will help you if you want revenge against [Gen (r) Pervez] Musharraf, but please don’t malign the whole army,” he said.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23rd, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Storm clouds</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/194064/storm-clouds</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/194064/storm-clouds#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 22 Jun 11 17:38:34 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[khurram.husain]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=194064</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The storm clouds are back, and global economy is threatened by global credit crisis likely to hit sovereign debt.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Excuse me for interrupting this very important moment of lucidity, I know it’s not everyday that an opportunity comes by to hold our armed forces and their ancillary apparatus for covert war accountable for their countless crimes. But we have a serious problem on our hands. It looks like the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 is coming back.

And it doesn’t end there — this time it looks even uglier than it did back then. It appears more and more so that the three or so years that have gone by since that fateful autumn of 2008, signalled by the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the frantic bailout of AIG, were nothing but a short interlude, a very short interlude, in a single crisis that is shaping up to be everything that 2008 was feared to be: Another Great Depression, a crisis that marks a comprehensive rupture between one era and the next.

All the bailouts and all the stimuli that were administered at the time to first shore up, then clean out bank balance sheets and to get banks to start lending again have had one major consequence: They have transferred the problem from private hands into government hands. What was a banking crisis has now returned as a sovereign debt crisis, with far bigger implications and no bailout options available.

What is clear is that the recovery that the stimulus spending of 2009 brought about was strong enough to arrest the slide of advanced economies into a catastrophic depression, but never gathered enough momentum to pay off the debts that had been incurred in the process. That leaves the advanced economies in a terrible bind now, either borrow more and continue spending to save the economy, or abandon the stimulus and retrench spending to save the government. That’s literally the choice now, try and rescue the economy, or rescue the government.

When the financial crisis of 2008 arrived, it caught us in our favourite posture: Happily in denial. ‘No impact on Pakistan’ was the refrain doing the rounds throughout 2008. Of course, everybody who subscribed to this thinking was sorely mistaken, and for a variety of reasons. Topping the list of these reasons is sheer mental incapacity to understand anything about the economy, ours or any other.

Our businessmen, who were on screen after screen happily reciting the ‘no impact’ line, know little about anything beyond the very narrow and specific vested interests of their racket. The go-to economists for the media in those days were the diminutive tribe of rent-a-hack that populated the brokerages and their ‘research’ divisions. None of them had the permission to say that Pakistan has important vulnerabilities in the event of a global credit crunch, and none wanted the permission either.

Nothing exemplified this state of denial better than the budget announced in June 2008. The budget saw outlays increased by almost 30 per cent, revenue receipts projected to increase by almost 25 per cent and the development budget hiked by 20 per cent. It was as if there is no storm gathering on the world economy, no ability to see that serious economic challenges were coming our way. Total denial; even the budget speech made no mention of the dangers stalking global markets.

Today, the storm clouds are back, and the global economy is threatened by a global credit crisis that is likely to hit sovereign debt in the advanced economies and then ripple outwards. Like in 2008, we are extremely vulnerable. Our levels of government debt are unsustainable already, avenues for foreign bailouts are even more limited than they were in 2008, the fiscal situation is more precarious than it was then, relations with great powers are in tatters and international goodwill and credibility are non-existent. And one more time, we’ve announced an unrealistic budget in the middle of it all, whose revenue needs will push us deeper into the crisis by forcing us to borrow more.

We do not know the extent of the coming crisis and how far it can carry us. What is that they say about those who don’t learn from history?

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23rd, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Provincial budget 2012: Balochistan neglects its own development</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/193413/budget-2011-12-rs164-5b-outlay-for-balochistan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/193413/budget-2011-12-rs164-5b-outlay-for-balochistan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 22 Jun 11 04:27:36 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Shezad Baloch]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Balochistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=193413</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Cuts development spending by 10%, lowest proportion amongst all provinces.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Despite being the most underdeveloped province, Balochistan will reduce its development expenditure for fiscal year 2012 by 10% and spend the smallest proportion of its budget on development projects compared to any other province in the country.


Balochistan Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd unveiled a Rs1,644 billion budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012 on Tuesday, and announced that the province would spend Rs31.2 billion on development, or about 19% of the total and 10% less than the outgoing fiscal year. By contrast, Punjab plans to spend 33% on development, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 34%, and Sindh a little over 35%.

The single biggest non-development allocation in the provincial budget is towards education, which is slated to get Rs19.3 billion, or about 11.7% of the total budget, and only 11% (less than inflation) more than last year. Much of the increase comes from allocating more funds for higher education since education became part of the provincial government’s responsibility as a result of the 18th Amendment to the constitution.

Health is expected to get Rs8.8 billion, about 5.3% of the budget. The government has announced its intention to increase salaries for doctors by about 25%.

Law enforcement and public safety has been allocated Rs11.5 billion, which is less than the Rs12.5 billion allocation last year. The decrease comes despite the government’s announced intention of increasing the capabilities of its own civilian police force and paramilitaries to improve the deteriorating law and order situation in the province.

The provincial government has completely abolished its local government system and will allocate no money to sub-provincial governments. During the Musharraf administration, the province used to spend Rs4 billion on local governments.

The overall budget for the province is only 8.2% more than the Rs152 billion outlay for fiscal year 2011, an increase that is almost half the pace of inflation (clocking in currently around 14%). Balochistan appears to lack the fiscal space to increase its budget allocations for development or other necessary expenditures, especially after it was forced by precedent to follow the federal government’s announcements of salary increases of 15% and pension increases of up to 20% for government employees and retirees.

The provincial government then further handicapped its own ability to generate revenues by announcing an expansion in its own workforce of about 6,300. The government will also spend about half a billion rupees on subsidising wheat.

Quetta plans to rely on its own tax collection efforts for less than 3% of its total revenues, with only Rs4.8 billion set as the province’s collection target. The budget deficit is expected to be about Rs6.7 billion, also likely to be financed by the federal government.

The province is slated to receive Rs11 billion extra from the federal government on account of increased income tax collections and sales tax on services, collected on behalf of the province.

However, it must also spend about Rs5.3 billion on debt servicing, which is nearly equal to the provincial budget deficit.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22nd, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Shackled by populism</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/193433/shackled-by-populism</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/193433/shackled-by-populism#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 21 Jun 11 18:14:02 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[rasul.bakhsh.rais]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=193433</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[In their bid to cling on to power, ruling parties formulate policies which are popular rather than practical.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[There are many social, political and historical obstacles to Pakistan’s progress. One of the persistent issues that holds Pakistan back is the obsession of the ruling groups, including previous military regimes, with populism, which means seeking cheap political popularity by political rhetoric. It also means fake representation of popular views, demagogy, and formulating policies that would appease and please the common folks but ultimately ruin the economy, governance and even rule of law in the country. For decades, the Pakistani ruling elite have shaped state policies more by political expediency than political realism. This has resulted in going for soft options on the most pressing economic, political and social issues.

Although populism reveals itself in everyday politics on almost every national issue, the best time to see its obnoxious display is during the announcement of national and provincial budgets. Even laymen and women in Pakistan, not to speak of scores of studies that national and international institutions have done on structural problems of Pakistan’s economy, know that sections of the society with taxable income remain untaxed.

It is a universal norm in progressive societies that all citizens with income above an established line will file tax returns and pay their dues. No modern state can function efficiently without collecting revenues, which prevent it from falling into the rentier ditch that Pakistan has fallen into. Meanwhile, the ruling elite doesn’t wish to take politically hard decisions which require that they use their own resources. Such an attitude is in stark contrast to the rhetorical position of breaking the begging bowl.

Populism is not confined to the revenue side of the budget; it is also evident in spending. Take for instance the number of spending programmes of the federal and Punjab governments. The Benazir Income Support Programme amounts roughly to Rs70 billion and is mostly funded by domestic and foreign loans. This is not the right way to reduce poverty. There are time-tested strategies of poverty reduction — investments, private entrepreneurship and the right social and economic atmosphere. This programme stands out as the best example of wastage and a cloaked mechanism of bribing clans in order to maintain clientele constituency.

The PML-N has not fared better. In the previous years, it has wasted billions on sasti roti and Ramazan packages and yellow cab schemes. This year again it has earmarked more than Rs4 billion for subsidising the purchase of cabs. In the past, influential members of society with the right bureaucratic and political contacts got subsidised cars for personal use. Leaders with vision would invest in public transport, railways, intercity bus services and subways in major cities than on yellow cabs. We should have targeted interventions to help the poor and the needy, not schemes which benefit everyone regardless of their level of income.

Most of the problems of governance, social reforms, and establishing rule of law in the country stem from avoiding hard decisions that may hit at the supportive constituencies of the electoral elite of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22nd, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Protest against budget 2011: Allocating anger</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/191746/protest-against-budget-2011-allocating-anger</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/191746/protest-against-budget-2011-allocating-anger#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 19 Jun 11 04:16:42 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[shamsul.islam]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Punjab]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=191746</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Protesters say budget should provide for poor not the powerful.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Workers Party Pakistan (WPP) and Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM) staged a large protest rally against inflation and the 2011-2012 budget on Friday. 

The rally was joined by representatives of trade unions, student unions, political parties and civil society organisations. The protesters marched from the District Council to Circular Road, and they were chanting slogans against the defence budget, increased foreign loans, corruption, inflation, less wages and privatisation of state owned enterprises.


The charged protestors were carrying placards and banners inscribed with their demands. “We want to take a stand for the middle and lower classes. Poor people in this country are living in hell and no one seems to care. The new budget has ignored their plight completely,” said protester Rehman Asif. The speakers demanded that the defence budget be presented in the national assembly and that it allow for an increase in the funding for education, health and the social sector. “We need to stop operating on the premise that nearly all our budget needs to go to the army,” said protester and WPP member Shahnawaz.

The protesters said that the government must seek ways of converting unproductive spending into productive investment.

“It needs to reduce the gap between national revenues and expenditures by revenue collection from influential persons and institutes,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Sindh Assembly: Marvi Rashdi’s 15 minutes of (de)fame</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/191820/political-discourse-sindh-assembly-marvi-rashdi%e2%80%99s-15-minutes-of-defame</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/191820/political-discourse-sindh-assembly-marvi-rashdi%e2%80%99s-15-minutes-of-defame#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 18 Jun 11 22:28:24 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Hafeez Tunio]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=191820</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Instea­d of discus­sing the budget, PML-F calls the educat­ion dept illite­rate and health dept ill.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[In 15 minutes, MPA Marvi Rashdi summed up her opinion of the government in a tirade littered with deliberate paradoxes. “The most corrupt department in the province is the anti-corruption department. The education department is an illiterate one and health is an ill department,” the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional lawmaker scowled during the Sindh Assembly session on Saturday.


During the budget discussion, Rashdi said this year’s budget presented by Sindh Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah was numerically good, but it seemed “sugar-coated”.

Then she criticised the health, education and anti-corruption departments, which, according to her, have failed to deliver. “How can people get better education when the minister of that department is watching dance videos of Indian actresses on his iPad during the budget session?” she said, quoting media reports. She described the governmental system as “bogus” as no attention was being given to changing the status quo.

On the law and order situation, she said Rs30 billion had been allocated for the police and after every target killing, the chief minister took notice of the issue, but his efforts had made no headway. “More than 20 of the country’s largest industrial groups have left Karachi and the rest of them are living in constant fear of being kidnapped by extortionist gangs.”

The Sindh government had passed a bill to collect sales tax on services. But on the other hand, the right to collect tax on the banking sector, insurance companies and stock markets had been given to the federal government, the MPA said. “More than 300 Nato containers arrive every day in Karachi and the federal government collects Rs20,000 in services tax on each container. Why is the federal government collecting services tax and where is provincial autonomy?” she questioned.

As Rashdi was about to finish, Senior Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq — the main subject of her harangue — was sitting in his chamber and then entered the session, in an attempt to respond. But Speaker Nisar Khuhro asked him to wait.

When Rashdi finished her ‘budget speech’, Pir Mazharul Haq stood up. “It is very unfortunate that people who have been elected are not even aware of the ethics of how to speak at the floor of the assembly,” he said in a scathing rebuttal.

In Rashdi’s defence, fellow Pakistan Muslim League-F member and the Leader of the Opposition Jam Madad Ali intervened and said that she had quoted media reports that claimed Pir Mazhar ul Haq had been watching dance videos during the budget. “He can clarify his position rather than being critical on our member who has quoted media reports,” he said.

That is when members of both parties started pointing fingers at each other. Jam Madad Ali said, “During the budget session, we made a precedent and listened to the finance minister’s speech without creating any ruckus in the house.”

Later, Speaker Nisar Khuhro adjourned the session till Monday amid the ruling and opposition parties shouting slogans.

Budget discussion

During the session, only seven members took part in the budget discussion on Saturday and the speaker said that around 81 members had spoken on the budget proposal within the last five days. The budget discussion would continue for another three to four days before it is passed, he said.

Earlier, giving his speech during the budget discussion, Minister for Inter Provincial and Coordination Makhdoom Jameeluz Zaman said that even though Sindh is already facing an acute water shortage, the federal government was willing to give Islamabad a share of Sindh’s water. “We have opposed this decision in the past and we will continue to do so.”He suggested that separate institutions for the welfare of artists and writers be established in the province.

Meanwhile, Transport Minister Akhtar Jadoon said his department was going to set up modern terminals under public-private partnership and billions of rupees would be invested with the help of a Malaysian company.

Rangers encroachment

Separately, Abdul Moeed Siddiqui of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement alleged that the Rangers have encroached on a government school in his constituency, North Nazimabad. Despite many complaints, the government has not taken any action, he told the house.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Taxes and the budget</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/191581/taxes-and-the-budget</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/191581/taxes-and-the-budget#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 18 Jun 11 19:28:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=191581</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The pressure Shaikh is under is obvious. Agricultural interests are over-represented in parliament and get their way.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[If the PPP government possesses a single ability, it is that of compromise. One may even call it cowardice and a willingness to appease every faction if it will prolong their rule. Since coming into power in 2008, they have already given in to the PML-N on the restoration of the judiciary, to the military on placing the ISI under interior ministry supervision and to the MQM on petroleum prices. Now, in his final speech of the budget debate in parliament, Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has given in one once again. Initially, he had said that Pakistan could not afford untargeted subsidies. Then, in his budget speech, he made an exception for buying wheat and fertiliser. Now, while alluding to pressure from parliamentarians, Shaikh has said that the subsidy will be increased even more.

The pressure Shaikh was under is obvious. Agricultural interests are over-represented in parliament and so tend to get their way. This PPP government, bereft of allies it can trust and facing immense pressure within its own party, has stuck to the rhetoric of deficit reduction but compromised on it in practice. Since curbing expenditures has now been shown to be a political impossibility, the only option the government has to reduce the deficit is to substantially increase its revenue.

The chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), has made all the right noises about increasing tax revenue and targeting those who do not pay their fair share of taxes. The words are comforting to hear but the reality in Pakistan is that rhetoric always outpaces reality. Not only will it require immense political will to collect taxes from the rich, who include parliamentarians from both the PPP and the opposition parties, but it also needs a depoliticised, incorruptible FBR. Past experience has taught us that the FBR combines inefficiency with corruption. The government now has to make a choice between fiscal discipline and real politic. The IMF is already going to be breathing down our necks for giving in on subsidies. If we continue our profligate ways, they may decide to turn off the aid spigot.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Sports minister refuses to accept budget until previous project funds are released</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/191096/sports-minister-refuses-to-accept-budget-until-previous-project-funds-are-released</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/191096/sports-minister-refuses-to-accept-budget-until-previous-project-funds-are-released#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 17 Jun 11 21:28:13 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[ppi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=191096</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Minister says govt has controlled crime to quite an extent.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The sports minister refused to accept the proposed budget for the upcoming year until the funds for development schemes from last year’s Annual Development Programme (ADP) are released and received.


During the Sindh Assembly session on Friday, Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro called out the minister, Dr Muhammad Ali Shah’s name to share his views on the budget. Without mincing his words, Dr Shah complained that two schemes — on the construction of small playgrounds and sporting facilities in some districts of Sindh — could not be started because the department had no money.

He pointed out that these schemes can be traced in the ADP book from the year 2010-2011 under serial numbers 451 and 452. “I won’t accept this budget until the previous schemes are approved and their funds are released,” he said.

Since he belongs to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, he reiterated the party’s stance on imposing an agriculture tax. He said that people living in urban areas are already paying property and water taxes. Paying only water tax out of the total amount earned by a landlord was not a strong justification, he said.

Trauma centre in Sehwan Sharif

Dr Shah appreciated the government’s proposal to build a trauma centre in Sehwan Sharif. It will greatly help people in the rural areas who often face difficulties in rushing critical patients to Karachi, he said.

He advised the provincial finance minister to appoint postgraduate doctors to these trauma centres so that they are technically equipped to deal with emergency cases. Postgraduate doctors would certainly serve in rural areas if special packages are announced for them, he assured.

Earlier in his speech, he condemned the killing of Olympian boxer Abrar Hussain in Quetta. He was a national asset that had been lost, he said.

Wheat prices

Minister for Agriculture Ali Nawaz Shah said that the floods had caused immense damage to the province. Nearly 2.2 million acres were inundated along with huge crops of rice and wheat. During the year 2010, the wheat requirement was 3.4 million tons and 3.7 million tons were produced. He said that the government is considering a mechanism to adjust wheat prices.

Law and order

The Pakistan Peoples Party inherited the complicated law and order situation from the previous government but it has improved it to quite an extent, said Minister for Population Welfare Ali Mardan Shah. Crimes are reported in developed countries, such as the US, as well, he said. He hoped Pakistan would get rid of such problems soon.

Women recruitment

Referring to the recruitment of women in government institutions, Minister for Women Development Tauqeer Fatima Bhutto lauded the government for introducing the Benazir Income Support Programme and other similar initiatives to reduce poverty and inflation. The session ended at 12:45 pm and the next one will be held at 9:30 am today (Saturday). A total of 81 members have spoken during the first five days of the budget session.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Finance Bill 2011: NA concludes debate on budget</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/190622/finance-bill-2011-na-concludes-debate-on-budget</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/190622/finance-bill-2011-na-concludes-debate-on-budget#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 17 Jun 11 03:35:32 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[umer.nangiana]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=190622</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Adopts all 66 recommendations by Senate.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Endorsing the recommendations of senators in the Finance Bill 2011, members of the National Assembly demanded their incorporation in the budget for the next fiscal year before it is passed during the on-going session of the assembly.


In a rare agreement during the budget debate, which concluded on Thursday, both the treasury and opposition benches asked the finance minister to positively consider and include the senators’ 66 recommendations stipulating certain crucial changes in the budget document.

“There was no rocket science involved in plugging the leakages in the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) as suggested by the senate, only political will was required” said Information Secretary Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Ahsan Iqbal while noting that the 18th Amendment had strengthened the role of Senate in the budget making process.

The senate’s suggestion to curtail allocations for foreign tours including that of the president and prime minister also caught his eye.

Yasmeen Rehman and Azra Fazal Pechuho from the PPP endorsed certain recommendations by the senators. Pechuho particularly asked for more allocations for the provision of gas in districts of Balochistan which were not supplied so far.

All three MNAs also supported the suggestion to reduce all administrative expenses by 25 per cent by the government and the raise in minimum wage up to Rs8,000 per month.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>2012 Senate elections to determine budget votes in 2011</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/190677/2012-senate-elections-to-determine-budget-votes-in-2011</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/190677/2012-senate-elections-to-determine-budget-votes-in-2011#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 17 Jun 11 02:59:45 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[abdul.manan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=190677</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Sharif’s party may dissolve the Punjab Assembly as a last resort.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Though the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has decided to support its rival Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) in the Punjab Assembly by voting in favour of the provincial budget, the PML-N leadership is set to vote against the budget in the National Assembly.


The two parties’ contrasting attitudes towards each other stem from their differing levels of perceived political strength, and are related to each party’s strategy with respect to the 2012 Senate elections.

On Thursday, Punjab Opposition Leader Raja Riaz formally submitted a written assurance to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif that the PPP bloc in the provincial legislature will be voting in favour of the Punjab budget on June 22.

Yet the PML-N’s sense of political isolation continues to aggravate, with the party leadership reported to be considering drastic measures to prevent the Senate elections next year, including dissolving the Punjab Assembly, sources told The Express Tribune.

According to sources familiar with the matter, while the PML-N has decided not to resign from the National Assembly, the party remains deeply concerned about its small presence in the Senate, which is unlikely to get larger in the elections scheduled for March 2012.

Party leaders are contemplating dissolving the Punjab Assembly a month before the Senate election in order to prevent the elections from taking place. While the power to dissolve the assembly technically lies with the governor of the province, he is legally bound to accept the advice of the chief minister on the matter.

The Constitution mandates that senators be elected by an electoral college consisting of members of the provincial assembly of each province. While the PML-N would be able to gain some seats as a result of its majority in the Punjab Assembly, the party’s miniscule presence in other provincial legislatures means that they will be unable to increase their presence substantially.

Conversely, political analysts expect the PPP to expand its Senate presence to as much as 43 seats, from the current 27 seats. The PML-N, meanwhile, may only be able to add four or five seats to its current tally of 7.

Sources emphasised that the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly was a ‘last resort’ option for the PML-N. The party has been actively trying to expand its coalition, particularly after the ruling PPP was able to add its rival PML-Q to its coalition.

The PML-N leadership have been touring Sindh and Balochistan and, according to senior party officials, are expected to invite all factions of the Pakistan Muslim League to join the PML-N under their banner.   They are even said to be considering an alliance with Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which is rumoured to be in talks with estranged PPP leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi to join forces and offer a viable alternative to Punjab’s voters.

The PML-N is expected to oppose the government’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2012, despite knowing that, given the broad majority enjoyed by the government in both houses of parliament, the federal budget is highly likely to pass anyway.

Meanwhile, the PPP has decided to take the exact opposite approach in Punjab.

PPP leaders are reported to have issued strict instructions to PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, their coalition partner, not to intervene in Punjab. The PPP wants to ensure that the PML-N has no excuse to start an agitation against the federal government or dissolve the Punjab Assembly. The PML-Q, meanwhile, is being placated through the promise of federal favours for their provincial legislators in Punjab.

The PPP leadership is keen to increase its presence in the Senate. About half of all Senators retire every three years and are replaced through a new election. If the PPP were able to come close to a Senate majority, its dominant position in the upper house would hold till 2015, effectively giving it a veto over the next National Assembly. Hence, even if the PPP were defeated in the 2013 general elections, it would still hold considerable sway in national politics.

Rift in the PML-N?

Sources inside the PML-N say that a majority of senior party leaders, including Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, have asked party chairman Nawaz Sharif to calm his heated rhetoric against the military and the intelligence agencies. However, Nawaz is reported to have refused to take the advice, not disclosing his reasons for doing so.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Tough decisions taken to stabilise economy: Shaikh</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/189731/budget-debate-tough-decisions-taken-to-stabilise-economy-shaikh</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/189731/budget-debate-tough-decisions-taken-to-stabilise-economy-shaikh#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jun 11 22:26:09 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[qamar.zaman]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=189731</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Top priori­ty is to reduce fiscal defici­t that fuels inflat­ion.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has brushed aside the assertion that the upcoming financial year’s budget has nothing for the poor, saying the government has taken tough decisions to stabilise the economy.


Winding up the debate on budget in the Senate on Wednesday, Shaikh said no tax had been imposed on medicines, agricultural products and essential commodities. “We have totally abolished special excise duty while regulatory duty on 392 items has been removed,” he added.

“We are passing through a transitional period and have tried our best not to increase the problems of the people,” he said.

The minister highlighted the challenges faced by the economy last year and said the country faced serious shocks from floods and war against terror.

During the debate on Finance Bill 2011-12, lawmakers irrespective of party lines had censured the government for withdrawing subsidies that provided some relief to the poor and for its helplessness in controlling inflation. Shaikh reiterated the recipe for self-reliance and asked people to contribute and pay due taxes. “Everyone whether he is a parliamentarian, media mogul or business tycoon must pay his tax,” he added.

Though he conceded that the government had failed in generating new jobs, he said the government had taken steps in this direction and would facilitate private sector in job creation.

“We have offered five years of tax exemption to the private sector for setting up new industries to contribute to economic growth and generate employment opportunities,” he added.

The minister said the top priority of the government in the budget was to reduce fiscal deficit, which was a major factor behind inflation in the country.

Pointing out measures taken to support the economy, he said freezing of current expenditure at last year’s levels and some other expenditure control steps would help save Rs20 billion.

He said efforts were being made to bring all potential income-generating sectors into the tax net. “We have identified 700,000 (wealthy) people who were not paying tax, of which 77,000 have been issued notices and 10,000 have already responded and 1,000 have paid taxes.”

He said the allocation for development programme was Rs730 billion for the next fiscal year and revised revenue collection target of Rs1,588 billion for the current year would be achieved.

The minister assured the House that allocation for the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) would be increased in 2011-12 while funds for health and education had been increased by 32 per cent. Though health and education were provincial subjects, the government would continue to fund the Higher Education Commission (HEC) along with ongoing projects of health, he added.

He said under the seventh National Finance Commission Award an additional Rs700 billion would go to the provinces, which would be utilised in sectors such as education, health, clean drinking water and civic services, which would help improve living standards of people.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>A look at the budget 2011-12</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/189455/a-look-at-the-budget-2011-12</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/189455/a-look-at-the-budget-2011-12#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jun 11 18:47:13 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[sharmila.farooqi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=189455</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The government’s vision is to bring the poor and vulnerable of the population into the mainstream of development.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Before discussing the budget, it is necessary to dwell on the environment in which Pakistan finds itself today. As a frontline state in the war against terror, it has paid a heavy price. Over 37,000 people have been martyred and 468 billion rupees suffered in collateral damage, and this goes to show that Pakistan is a brave and resilient nation, and the floods of 2010 added to the burden. The other major factor was a significant rise in international oil prices.

Despite this, the people’s government, because of its people-centric approach, has achieved success in a number of areas in the last three years. The budget 2011-12 is an effort on the part of the people’s government to solidify these gains as well as to create new opportunities for people.

When the budget for 2010-2011 was prepared, the price of oil was expected to be in the range of $70-75 per barrel but rose to $125 per barrel during the year. The third factor which continued to affect us adversely is national security and the fallout from the war on terrorism. This has consequences for our economy and affects our perceptions. It affects our business environment, investment flow and hence economic growth. And, ultimately, it affects the welfare of our people.

For example, the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has received widespread acceptance from development partners. It uses technology so that the possibilities of corruption are limited. This year, the government spent Rs35 billion for providing a monthly stipend of Rs1,000 to low-income households and next year this amount will increase to at least Rs50 billion. If additional resources are available, this amount may be increased to Rs65 billion.

The government hopes to reduce the fiscal deficit further. It also hopes to reduce the rate of inflation to single digit levels through continued fiscal consolidation. A broad, equitable and stable revenue mobilisation system is under construction to meet our development needs. The government is maintaining and further developing social safety nets for the vulnerable while moving rapidly towards the elimination of untargeted subsidies. It is restructuring the loss-making public sector enterprises where possible. And despite its financial constraints, no new taxes have been levied.

The government understands and is aware of the difficulties being faced by government servants and pensioners. In order to provide some economic relief to them, the people’s government has increased their salaries by 15 per cent and pensions by 20 per cent. The government’s vision is to bring the poor and vulnerable segments of the population into the mainstream of development. It does not care about the propaganda campaign started by the PML-N, which was evident during the budget session. Rather, it believes in constructive criticism.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Financial plan: AJK budget ‘increases’ negatively</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/189081/financial-plan-ajk-budget-%e2%80%98increases%e2%80%99-negatively</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/189081/financial-plan-ajk-budget-%e2%80%98increases%e2%80%99-negatively#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jun 11 05:20:13 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[roshan.mughal]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=189081</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Contrary to finance minister’s claim of a 34% increase, figures show the budget allocation has fallen by 6%.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) finance minister’s claim that the state’s budget has been increased by 34 per cent is proven incorrect the moment one looks at last year’s figures.


The AJK budget for 2010-11 was Rs47.3 billion. In contrast, the budget for 2011-12 is Rs44.55 billion, which is around 6 per cent less.

Moreover, the legislators, who are busy running a heated campaign for the upcoming elections, walked out of the assembly without debating on the budget.

According to the budget, government employees have been given a 34 per cent increase in their salaries and the net deficit has been decreased to Rs5 billion from Rs12.5 billion last year. However, the development sector’s share has also been reduced from Rs11.1 billion last year to Rs8.2 billion. No new taxes have been introduced in the new budget, even though there is a strong need to increase state revenues. According to the proposed budget, all the income will be generated through state resources (Rs13.64 billion), federal taxes (Rs9 billion), taxes collected by Kashmir Council of AJK (Rs6.9 billion), water usage charges from Mangla (0.72 billion) and annual development program fund (8.284 billion).

The decrease in development budget and the lack of debate over the issue indicates that legislators are not concerned with public issues and are instead busy focusing on their campaigns for the upcoming elections, scheduled to take place on June 26.

The house, which spends weeks debating over the budget every year with strong protests and walkouts, did not carry out such demonstrations this year when there was a strong need to challenge the decrease in development expenditure. The budget session ended in only a few hours and all the demands presented were approved without any dispute.

The budget session marked the last budget of Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed’s government. The prime minister met with the cabinet and approved the budget for 2011-12. During his address to the cabinet meeting, he said that his government has presented a “balanced and pro-poor budget during very crucial conditions”.

The cabinet also adopted a number of resolutions in which it condemned human rights violations in Indian Kashmir and demanded the international community to play its role in bringing an end to Kashmiri peoples’ sufferings.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Punjab Assembly: ‘Provincial finance commission is the remedy’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/188947/punjab-assembly-%e2%80%98provincial-finance-commission-is-the-remedy%e2%80%99</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/188947/punjab-assembly-%e2%80%98provincial-finance-commission-is-the-remedy%e2%80%99#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jun 11 20:33:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[abdul.manan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Punjab]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=188947</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[‘Tax south fairly and demand for separate province will fall’.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The 2011-12 budget does not allocate enough resources to southern Punjab and the provincial government must come up with a fairer method for the distribution of resources based on population and area, opposition members of the Punjab Assembly from South Punjab said on Tuesday.


The MPAs chanted slogans like ‘Assan qaidi takht Lahore de’ (We are prisoners of the throne of Lahore), while others said they could ‘smell cotton’ in the provincial capital, implying that the city has been built on the back of revenue extracted from the cotton fields of southern Punjab.

MPA Dr Muhammad Akhtar Malik (Pakistan Peoples Party) from Multan said the figures printed in the budget document were a product of “jugglery” and proceeded to compare the allocations for southern Punjab to overall spending.

He said that of the Rs4,873 million allocated for the establishment of colleges, only Rs809 million was for southern Punjab. Of the 833 colleges to be upgraded from intermediate to degree status, only 120 were in the south.

Malik said that of the Rs18,294.4 million for medical education, Rs5,440 million was for southern Punjab. He said that of the total Rs12,001.5 million allocated for water supply schemes, only Rs1,263 million was for southern Punjab. Of the Rs3,336.4 million for rural water supply schemes, only Rs623.5 million was for southern Punjab. He said that Rs2,887.5 million had been allocated for new rural drainage schemes, with only Rs276 million for southern Punjab.

He said that the budget included Rs5,700 million in block allocations and Rs9,450 million for new schemes in northern and central Punjab. The block allocations, he said, were at the chief minister’s discretion to spend. He said that the Punjab government had allocated Rs70 billion for the south, but only Rs10 billion would be released this year. He said that last year, Rs5 billion had been allocated but only Rs800 million had been released so far.

Malik said that the federal and provincial government collected a lot of revenue from southern Punjab from the taxes on agriculture inputs and others but spent little on the region. He said that there should be a provincial finance commission, like the National Finance Commission, to determine the distribution of resources among the districts on the basis of size, population and poverty.

He criticised the Punjab government for giving up some types of foreign aid, saying the money was being spent on development in rural areas of the south. He said that the MPAs from southern Punjab could ‘smell cotton on the streets of Lahore’.

MPA Athar Hassan Gorchani (PPP) spoke about the deprivation in DG Khan and Rajanpur. He said that millions of rupees had been allocated for solar tube well but not one had been installed in these districts. The government had announced that it would open a medical school in DG Khan in 2008 but it had not materialised yet.

He said that none of the dykes and embankments destroyed in last year’s floods had yet been repaired. He said that every year, hill torrents devastated these areas but the government had yet to create a system to manage them and protect the local population.

Pakistan Muslim League-Functional parliamentary leader Makhdoom Syed Ahmad Mehmood from Rahim Yar Khan said that the provincial government should immediately restore the local government system to devolve power to the districts.

He suggested that the Punjab government create a two-tier tax system for the north and south. “The people of Lahore can pay more taxes than the people of southern Punjab because most of the development has been in Lahore. The city’s map changes every six months,” he said.

He said the people of southern Punjab saw that their resources were being spent on Lahore and that was why they supported the idea of a separate province.

If the government taxed people in Lahore more, demands for a separate province would ease, he said.

Also on Tuesday, MPAs Dr Muhammad Ashraf Chohan (PML-Nawaz) and Dr Samia Amjad (PML-Quaid) got into an ugly exchange of words that the speaker ordered expunged from the record. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited the house but did not participate in proceedings, though he presided over meetings of parliamentary secretaries and chairmen of standing committees earlier.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Budget crunch: Education and health projects at crossroads</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/188450/budget-crunch-education-and-health-projects-at-crossroads</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/188450/budget-crunch-education-and-health-projects-at-crossroads#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jun 11 04:18:28 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[peer.muhammad]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=188450</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Employees of the projects protest fearing closure.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The future of National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and National Education Foundation (NEF) remains uncertain. As both the federal government and provinces did not allocate any funds in their current budgets for the continuation of these bodies.


According to the minutes of the last meeting of Implementation Commission of the 18th Amendment, held on June 2, it was stated that negotiations may be held with the provinces for adoption of useful components of both the projects.

The finance division was to liaise with the provinces to provide a partial funding mechanism for such bodies to alleviate the financial burden on the provinces. In case an arrangement could not be reached, the two organisations would be wound up after June 30, 2011. However, the component related to the federal areas shall be protected for the duration of the projects, the minutes added.

Sources said that except Sindh, the other provinces were not ready to adopt the two costly projects. One of the chief secretaries at the meeting reportedly said that they could not afford such costly projects as, even a director of these projects got packages more than those of a provincial chief secretary.The political appointees in these projects are another factor causing reluctance for their adoption by the provinces. Majority of the employees in these programmes have been appointed on political grounds and their contribution is not significant, said an official.

He added, it seemed that the future of these programmes is bleak as neither the provincial and nor the federal government have earmarked budgets for them. “These would be closed and the employees would be badly affected,” he added. Besides, taking up these programmes is a huge liability as the salaries of the employees have not been paid for the past many months in addition to other expenses,” he said.

The NCHD was set up through a presidential ordinance in 2002 to support education and healthcare, which was going to work with the government and non-governmental organisations in all the districts of Pakistan. The project closed down in August 2008, but after protests, it was revived in February 2009 for a period of three years up to June 2012.

Over 17,000 employees are working for NCHD in Pakistan. The employees have not received their salaries since January 2011.

On the other hand, NEF was initially founded through a cabinet resolution in 1994 by the PPP government. It is now an autonomous statutory body as restructured under Presidential Ordinance 2002 with its extend to to the tribal areas, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jamu and Kashmir and Islamabad Capital Territory to promote education through public-private partnership. The project has around 1,5000 Basic Education Community Schools in the country with more than 550,000 students belonging to the poorest of the families. Around 550 supervisory staff, 15,000 teachers and 500 field supervisors are serving in the project. However, there a strong protest by the employees of these two projects was also held in the fear that these projects would be closed and their professional careers would be at stake.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Budget 2012: Most legislators fail to show up for AJK budget</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/188546/budget-2012-most-legislators-fail-to-show-up-for-ajk-budget</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/188546/budget-2012-most-legislators-fail-to-show-up-for-ajk-budget#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jun 11 03:25:16 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[roshan.mughal]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=188546</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Session starts three hours late as the house struggles to reach quorum; Rs44.5 billion budget unveiled.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[In a sparsely-attended session of the region’s Legislative Assembly, Azad Jammu Kashmir Finance Minister Abdul Rasheed Abbasi presented a Rs44.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2012, which is 18.7% higher than the budget for the outgoing fiscal year.


The budget session started three hours late, with the legislature struggling to secure a quorum. Most legislators are reportedly busy with the election campaigns and were unable to attend the budget session. It is unclear how many will be able to turn up for the vote on the finance bill itself, which is expected over the next few weeks and coincides with the most hectic part of the election cycle.

Unlike the federal finance minister’s speech on June 3, which outlined a broader direction of economic reform, Abbasi’s speech appeared to be a litany of figures, where he simply read out what the AJK government has spent thus far in the outgoing year, what it plans to spend the next year and where the money will be coming from.

Of the total spending outlined by the minister, Rs8.3 billion will be spent on development, an amount that is financed entirely through grants from the federal government. The development budget for the upcoming year is 34% higher than the budget for the outgoing fiscal year.

Abbasi claimed that the AJK government was presenting a ‘balanced budget’ but then later in his speech pointed to transfers from the federal government as the reason why the regional government’s revenues were equal to its expenditures.

The region is very heavily dependent upon such transfers for financing most of its government and development expenses. In addition to regular transfers, the federal government frequently fills in any additional gaps in the AJK budget.

The AJK government will spend Rs11 billion on education and Rs2.6 billion on health. Muzaffarabad will spend more on pensions for its retired employees (Rs2.3 billion) than on its existing employees (Rs1.4 billion). It also spends close to Rs5 billion on electricity provision and infrastructure.

The region is also expected to spend Rs3.6 billion on public safety and law enforcement. Of that amount, Rs2.8 billion will be spent on the police force.

Within the development budget, the single largest allocation will be to transportation infrastructure (Rs3.3 billion), whereas another Rs1.1 billion has been allocated towards hydroelectric power generation projects.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>We’re rolling in money, so how come people’s lives haven’t changed, MPA candidly asks</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/188284/we%e2%80%99re-rolling-in-money-so-how-come-people%e2%80%99s-lives-haven%e2%80%99t-changed-mpa-candidly-asks</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/188284/we%e2%80%99re-rolling-in-money-so-how-come-people%e2%80%99s-lives-haven%e2%80%99t-changed-mpa-candidly-asks#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jun 11 22:13:51 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Hafeez Tunio]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=188284</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[40% of development money devoured by corrupt officials: MPA.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[It is rare for a politician to speak the truth and perhaps even rarer for one to ask the brutally honest questions that prompt self-reflection. But on Monday, a well-respected and highly educated MPA from none other than the government’s own party, asked Sindh’s most painful question: For the last sixty years every government has claimed to present a historic and people-friendly budget, but if this is the case, how come they haven’t brought about the socio-economic change they promised?


This reflection came from Dr Sikander Mendhro of the Pakistan Peoples Party as Sindh’s elected representatives discussed the new budget for the next fiscal year. Mendhro was also crushingly honest about corruption in the government. “Every year more than 40 per cent of our development budget goes into the pockets of different people and funds are not used on time,” he said. “There are chances that the same proportion from next year’s development budget, which is Rs61 billion, is bungled by these elements. We should seriously think about [oversight].” Mendhro wanted less harping about allocations and more focus on monitoring. “Otherwise these budgets cannot make any difference.”

The Sindh Assembly should have a quarterly review and spend 25 per cent of its time on keeping an eye on how development projects are going. Departments that don’t spend their money wisely and on time should be cut back. Indeed, a suggestion that the government would do well to consider.

And while he had the floor, Mendhro took the opportunity to chastise feudal landlords. They are members of parliament and the Sindh Assembly, can’t they do anything about the tribal clashes in their own districts?

Much in the same vein, Pakistan Muslim League-Q’s MPA Abdul Razzaque Rahimo pointed out that education’s budget has gone up 15 per cent but the standard of education seems to be on the verge of collapse. What else should one expect, he went on to imply. The former Education secretary Naheed Durrani, who happened to be an honest officer, was transferred because she wanted to make drastic changes and took action against corrupt officials.

Rahimo did not spare the health department either. So much money is allocated but dozens of basic health centres are working without doctors and due to the unhygienic conditions of public hospitals you don’t even want to venture inside, much less get treatment there. “People are dying of hunger and need to search for drinking water. But the government has presented a Rs882 million surplus budget. I cannot believe in it,” he said. There is no local government system and district governments come under the provincial government but there seems to be no one to ask what has happened to the Rs200 million given to Town Municipal Administrations and Rs0.2 million to each union council.

Dr Ahmed Ali Shah of the PPP, who heads the Sindh Assembly committee to oversee breaches, said that even though work was done, it wasn’t satisfactory and much of it was washed away.

For his part, Moin Amir Pirzada of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement brought up the 341 small schemes that were dropped from the development budget or ADP. He demanded the government review its decision. “The schemes were started in 2007 and 25 per cent of the money or Rs5 billion has been spent,” he said. “So we cannot drop them at the moment.” The government should have at least mentioned it before making such a decision.

PPP MPA Pitanbar Sewani had his own axe to grind. The budget did not mention foreign loans. The 5% quota for minorities in government jobs was virtually abandoned, even though it was in the PPP manifesto. “A budget was allocated for the minority department, but hardly five per cent of it was used for their welfare,” he added. “During the floods 0.2 million Hindus were affected, but neither the ministers nor any government representative helped them.”

MQM MPA Faheem Khan said that government had given special packages worth billions of rupees to Larkana, Khairpur, Benazirabad, Hyderabad and Karachi, but no such package was given to other towns, which have been neglected by successive governments. Take Mirpurkhas for example.

Around 27 MPAs out of 168 took part in the budget discussion, which will continue for about one week.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Punjab Assembly: Opp leader disappoints with budget response</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/188377/punjab-assembly-opp-leader-disappoints-with-budget-response</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/188377/punjab-assembly-opp-leader-disappoints-with-budget-response#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jun 11 19:48:02 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[abdul.manan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Punjab]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=188377</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Raja Riaz criticises govt spending, says PPP will create Seraiki province.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Raja Riaz lashed out at the government for preparing a “shameful” budget for the next fiscal year on Monday, but undermined his criticisms by getting several facts wrong in his speech.


The day’s proceedings, dedicated to a general discussion on the budget plan, started at 4.45pm. Leader of the House Shahbaz Sharif entered the assembly building in the middle of Riaz’s speech.

The opposition leader questioned the government’s financial management, saying their “temporary finance ministers” were ignorant and so the budget had been prepared by bureaucrats. He noted that Kamran Michael during Friday’s budget speech repeatedly applauded the vision of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, saying that he had guided the Punjab government to make the budget. Riaz said that maybe Nawaz Sharif should be chief minister since his younger brother “has lost his mind”. He made several mistakes in his speech, which Law Minister Rana Sanaullah took pleasure in pointing out. Riaz said that the governmet had allocated Rs1,936 billion to the Annual Development Programme for 2010-2011. Sanaullah interrupted to state that the budget was Rs193.6 billion.

Riaz said the Punjab government had only used Rs138 billion of the budget and the rest of the funds had lapsed. Sanaullah again interrupted to point out that Rs105 billion had been spent. “The person who prepared your speech should be beaten with shoes,” he said, adding that he was willing to train the opposition leader so he could give a speech with accurate figures.

Riaz, embarrassed, tried at one point to consult with former finance minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira, but had to go back to his seat after strong opposition from the treasury benches.

The opposition leader criticised the spending at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, noting that it had stood at Rs290 million in 2009-10, when it was allocated Rs160 million, and at Rs460 million in 2010-11, when it had been allocated Rs260 million. He said that the finance minister had announced in his budget speech that the Punjab government had cut spending at the Secretariat by 25 per cent, but it had also been allocated Rs260.64 million for 2011-12 and there was no sign of the austerity measures promised by the government.

Riaz criticised the Punjab government’s Sasti Roti scheme, noting that its subsidy had decreased by Rs2 billion from last year. He said that the scheme would likely be abolished this year because of it failure. He said the funds for the Punjab Land Development Company would be used to buy turncoats.

He said the budget was silent about how much had been allocated for the Ashiana Housing and Yellow Cab schemes, projects which had already been tried and failed in the past. He said the government also had not explained where it would get the water for the agricultural land it had promised to give to graduates of agriculture universities.

Riaz criticised the Danish School system, saying the government should focus instead on its 63,000 schools which lack basic facilities. He said he did not believe that the government would release all the money it had announced it was allocating for south Punjab. He said that the Pakistan Peoples Party would put the creation of a Seraiki province on its manifesto for the next general elections.

Later, Riaz accused Sanaullah of disrupting his speech. Sanaullah claimed that Riaz, at the earlier business advisory committee meeting, had sought three days for his speech, “but unfortunately he could only talk for an hour”. The session will resume today.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>The budget: Populism vs realism</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/188143/the-budget-populism-vs-realism</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/188143/the-budget-populism-vs-realism#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jun 11 18:52:41 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[farahnaz.ispahani]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=188143</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Until Pakistan expands its tax base and growth is sustainable, provinces would need external help for projects.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The federal budget for 2011-12 has been presented amidst difficult and adverse economic circumstances. It is, given the prevailing situation, as positive and realistic a budget as possible. The country needs to expand revenue generation and expand the tax net to lay the foundations of sustainable economic growth. It is, therefore, ironic that populist rhetoric and slogans like ‘the budget offers no relief to ordinary people’ are being bandied about instead of solid analysis while discussing the government’s budget priorities.

Abolishing special excise duties and harmful, unnecessary duties are measures that would lead to a favourable economic environment. The identification of 700,000 eligible income taxpayers who have to-date not even had a national tax ID number will enable the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) to methodically expand the tax base. In future, the CNIC number will serve as the tax ID number, making it possible to ensure that everyone pays their tax dues.

Until Pakistan expands its tax base and sustainable economic growth can be achieved with resources generated within the country, it is mere fantasy to say that any of the provinces will be able to execute development projects without external financing. Punjab continues to receive loans from many countries and international donor agencies for aid projects even after its government leaders’ recent pronouncements against US aid. How economically sensible is it to take loans which need to be paid back instead of US grants which could help reduce the debt burden? Speeches against USAID and the IMF attract applause but do not make economic sense.

Collective efforts to address our economic troubles are the need of the hour rather than political ploys and games that simply muddy the national discourse. Historically, it was Pakistan’s founding generation assembled under the banner of the Muslim League which started the process of seeking international aid to build up Pakistan’s infrastructure and industrial base — something that had not been inherited at the time of independence.The largest amounts of foreign aid were obtained during the Ayub Khan and Ziaul Haq eras, which again were Muslim League eras. Even the negotiations about the current IMF loan facility were initiated under the able Senator Ishaq Dar of the PML-N, when he served as finance minister in 2008. We have seen the consequences of populist slogan-mongering about shunning aid without working out an alternative. The ‘qarz utaro mulk sunwaro’ scheme of seeking contributions from overseas Pakistanis as a substitute for aid was initiated in 1998 amid claims of breaking the begging bowl. Only $178 million were raised against the outstanding international debt at the time, which was $38 billion.

There is no disagreement on the principle that Pakistan should not be dependent on foreign aid and assistance, and more trade and self-reliance would be ideal. That ideal, however, would best be attained by realistic and consistent policies, not symbolic gestures or populist slogans. The IMF and the World Bank are multilateral institutions of which Pakistan is a contributing member and asking them for assistance or aid is in no way a blow to our self-respect — a fact Senator Dar reasonably acknowledged while briefly in the federal government in 2008.

Pakistan has suffered due to populist decision-making trumping economic realism before. The largest flow of foreign investment in Pakistan’s history came during Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s second term as prime minister (1993-1996) — when it jumped from $443 million in 1993 to $1,532 million in 1994-95 and $1,295 million in 1995-96. This inflow of investment was the result of incentives, particularly for foreign investors setting up independent power producing plants. Unfortunate populism led to the cancellation of these power-generating contracts amidst false accusations of corruption immediately after the manipulated ouster of the PPP government. The country not only lost the investment stream but is to this day suffering from shortages in power generation capacity in relation to the demand for electricity.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Rs44.5 billion budget for AJK</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/188023/rs44-5-billion-budget-for-ajk</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/188023/rs44-5-billion-budget-for-ajk#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jun 11 09:22:34 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[The outlay is 34 per cent higher than the previous budget.]]>
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				<![CDATA[A budget with a total outlay of Rs44.5 billion for the fiscal year 2011-12 was presented in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislatives Assembly on Monday. 
AJK Finance Minsiter Abdul Rasheed Abbassi presented the budget. The outlay is 34 per cent higher than the previous budget.
According to the budget document, Rs36.26 billion have been  allocated for non-development projects and only Rs8.28 billion for  development projects.
The Ministry of Kashmir Affairs will give Rs2.5 billion to the  AJK government.
More than Rs260 million will be spent on health sectors, Rs10  billion for the reconstruction in quake-affected areas, and Rs550 million for hydel sector.
Seven new power generation projects will be started during the year 2011-12  and Rs251 million of income is expected to come from hydel sector. From the budget, Rs800 million have been set aside for road construction.]]>
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			<title>Punjab politics: PPP, PML-Q to move try to dislodge PML-N after budget vote</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187854/punjab-politics-ppp-pml-q-to-move-try-to-dislodge-pml-n-after-budget-vote</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187854/punjab-politics-ppp-pml-q-to-move-try-to-dislodge-pml-n-after-budget-vote#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jun 11 04:44:29 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[zia.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Punjab]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=187854</guid>
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				<![CDATA[President was reportedly hesitant to go along with Pervaiz Elahi’s plan.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q) are expected to begin political manoeuvres to dislodge the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) as the ruling party in Punjab, according to sources privy to internal discussions within the parties.


Sources say that the moves against the PML-N government in Lahore are expected to take place soon after the provincial budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012 passes the Punjab Assembly.

Individuals privy to the plan told The Express Tribune on Sunday that PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi had convinced President Asif Ali Zardari that he might be able to take control of the Punjab government. Elahi is reporterd to be spearheading the whole campaign.

Elahi, who served as Punjab chief minister between 2002 and 2007 under former president Pervez Musharraf, had told President Zardari that he wanted control of the Punjab government ahead of next general elections to make sure that district administrations and police officials could be used to the coalition’s advantage during the 2013 polls.

“We want this desperately… controlling the province ahead of polls is what can make all the difference in the world,” said one associate of Elahi, who claimed he would be part of the campaign when it is started next month.

Sources close to President Zardari said the president had initially disagreed with the idea out of fear that it might backfire, similar to what happened in the early months of 2009, when the PPP tried to dislodge the PML-N government by imposing “Governor’s rule” in Punjab.

While the president is constitutionally authorised to impose such rule, temporarily suspending the provincial assembly, the public backlash against the move was so strong that President Zardari was forced to take back this measure within a matter of days.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Punjab Assembly: Unification Bloc to skip Money Bill vote</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187721/punjab-assembly-unification-bloc-to-skip-money-bill-vote</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187721/punjab-assembly-unification-bloc-to-skip-money-bill-vote#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 11 20:15:39 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[abdul.manan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Punjab]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=187721</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[PML-N says Constitution requires simple majority to pass budget.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Unification Bloc is likely to boycott the Punjab Assembly on June 22, when there is due to be a vote on the 2011-12 budget, to avoid getting into legal trouble. The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) believes it can pass the bill with a simple majority of the members attending the assembly on that day, sources in both camps told The Express Tribune.


According to Articles 70, 115 and 116 the Constitution, the Money Bill including the finance bill containing the annual budget needs to be passed by a majority present in the house at the time.

The bill is then sent to the governor for his/her consent, after which it becomes an Act.

The PML-N has 171 members in the house out of a total of 371 members. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has the support of 108 members including two independents, while the PML-Quaid (PML-Q) claims that it has the support of 42 members. The Unification Bloc, which is made up of dissident PML-Q MPAs, has around 39 members who back the provincial government.

Senior PML-N and Unification Bloc members believe that since the combined opposition of the PML-Q and PPP has the support of 150 members, minus the Unification Bloc, the PML-N with its 171 members has a certain majority in the house.

However, if the Unification Bloc members attend the session on June 22 and are forced to vote against the money bill under the defection clause (Article 63A), bringing the total potential opposition vote to 189, the budget could be defeated. Therefore, they have decided that the Bloc members should remain absent on the day.

PML-Q Parliamentary Leader Chaudhry Zaheeruddin Khan had earlier filed a reference against nine Unification Bloc members with the Election Commission seeking disqualification.

He said that if the Bloc voted for the money bill, he would refer their case to the presiding officer and chief election commissioner.

The sources said that the PML-N felt that it would be best to keep the Unification Bloc members from any further legal complications by skipping the session. Mian Ata Maneka, a senior Bloc member, told The Express Tribune that the group was considering their options and had yet to make a final decision. He said that an absolute majority of 186 members was only required when electing a chief minister and when giving him a vote of confidence.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Report: Federal Budget 2011-12 likely to miss most targets</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187828/report-federal-budget-2011-12-likely-to-miss-most-targets</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187828/report-federal-budget-2011-12-likely-to-miss-most-targets#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 11 20:07:13 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[faryal.najeeb]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Fiscal deficit likely to stay high at 5%.]]>
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				<![CDATA[After four years of expansionary fiscal policy, resource constraints are beginning to bite, according to Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan’s economist Sayem Ali.


In a recently published report on the Federal Budget 2011-12, Ali said that “the government’s record on budget targets inspires little confidence: in the last four years every tax and spending target has been missed.”

Furthermore, he says that “a closer look at the FY12 budget measures indicates to us that there is a real risk that the targets will be missed once again, with the fiscal deficit likely to stay high at 5% of GDP.”

The government targets 4.2% growth in FY12, from 2.4% in FY11. Higher reconstruction spending in flood-affected areas and higher investment spending in the energy and transport infrastructure will accelerate growth.

The report said that even though the government targets a reduction in inflation to 12% in FY12, from 14.5% in FY11, and to achieve this, it has reduced the general sales tax from 17% to 16% and has promised to stop printing money for deficit financing, the announcement to sharply reduce subsidies from 2.2% of the GDP to 0.8%, is likely going to push inflation in the short term.

Similarly, food subsidies on the procurement, import and sale of essential food items has been slashed as the government limits its intervention in the markets, which though a positive sign, is likely to lead to an increase in the prices of sugar, wheat and rice.

The FY12 budget targets a decline in the fiscal deficit to 4% of GDP, from an estimated 5.7% of GDP in FY11. However, the report said, the deficit target is based on ambitious revenue targets and the premise that the provinces will generate a surplus of 0.5% of GDP in FY12, based on a higher share in the revenue pool as agreed under the 2010 National Finance Commission Award.

In FY11 the government budgeted for a provincial surplus of 1% of GDP but ended up with a deficit. The same is likely to happen in FY12, with provincial governments keen to spend ahead of the parliamentary elections due in early 2013, the report stated.

“Similarly, we think revenue targets are too ambitious and are unlikely to materialise. In our view, the deficit will exceed the government’s 4% forecast, at 5% of GDP, with higher-than-budgeted spending by provinces and lower-than-targeted tax collection”, Ali said in his report.

The economist also said that the tax target of Rs2.1 trillion seems too ambitious, since the government failed to address agricultural tax and wealth tax. Moreover, many of the excise duties and regulatory duties have been eased which will all hamper incoming revenue for the government.

He pointed out that reduction in GST by one per cent and the raising of the floor on income tax to Rs350,000 was also likely to result in significant loss for the government and therefore “the government’s revenue target of 9.3% of GDP looks highly unlikely to materialise”.

On government borrowing, the report said the government is seeking to reduce its FY12 borrowing from banks to Rs304 billion, from Rs633billion in FY11. However, there is a real risk that bank borrowing will be significantly higher due to a higher-than-targeted fiscal deficit and lower-than-targeted external financing.

External financing has slowed sharply as IFIs, including the IMF, have suspended disbursements on the sharp debt build-up and slow pace of reforms. The IFIs will not release money unless they see tangible progress on reforms outlined in the FY12 budget. In this scenario, the government’s estimates that it will raise $3.3billion in loans from IFIs look highly unlikely.

Moreover, the government has also included funding from the Kerry-Lugar Bill and privatisation- uncertain sources of steady income. Therefore pressure will remain on bank borrowing for deficit financing. “In our view, bank borrowing will remain high at Rs550 billion in FY12, and could be higher in the event of fiscal slippage, versus the FY12 budget target of Rs304 billion,” the report concluded.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>National Assembly: Opposition assails govt over tax regime</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187339/national-assembly-opposition-assails-govt-over-tax-regime</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187339/national-assembly-opposition-assails-govt-over-tax-regime#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 11 05:39:08 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[umer.nangiana]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=187339</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Budget debate in the lower house focuses on rhetoric against the elite.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The opposition, mainly led by the PML-N, criticised the government on Saturday over multiple accounts, ranging from faulty tax regime, inflation, deteriorating law and order situation, irrational government borrowing to the government’s failure to tax the rich.


Shahid Khaqan Abbasi of the PML-N, while speaking on the budget in the National Assembly, demanded that everyone, including “generals, judges and parliamentarians” ought to pay their taxes.

Noting that almost one-thirds of parliamentarians were not paying taxes, he lambasted the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) for failing to tax the rich.

“Just Rs10 million were being collected from (all) parliamentarians in taxes. The finance minister should explain why more loans were being taken without improving FBR’s performance,” said Abbasi.

He said that because of failed economic policies and excessive borrowings, Pakistan’s foreign debt had climbed to Rs10 trillion on which “we will have to pay Rs100 billion extra in interest next year”.

Sharing statisitics on tax evasion and theft, Abbasi claimed that more than 50 per cent of the two million people earning Rs500,000 a month were evading taxes, while 50 million people whose monthly income was not more than Rs3,000 a month were being taxed.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Budget 2012 : Floods, terrorism dominate Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa budget</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187324/budget-2012-floods-terrorism-dominate-khyber-pakhtunkhwa-budget</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187324/budget-2012-floods-terrorism-dominate-khyber-pakhtunkhwa-budget#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 11 05:25:36 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=187324</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Education budget rises by 45%, health allocation increases; Special Police in Malakand to continue functioning.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government’s Rs85.1 billion development budget was dominated by allocation to deal with the damage caused by the flood as well as the Taliban insurgency, even as funds for education were expanded by a considerable 44.5%.


For the first time in the province’s history, the development budget will include an allocation for public safety and law enforcement. The government is expected to spend Rs807 million to continue to fund the 6,700-strong Malakand Special Police Force. Total allocations for the police are expected to be Rs18.8 billion, less than the Rs21 billion to that was spent in the outgoing year.

In addition, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is expected to grant two-year extensions to 2,500 army personnel who are scheduled to retire. The cost of those extensions, expected to be Rs635 million, will be borne by the provincial government.

Meanwhile, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Finance Minister Humayun Khan claimed that the provincial government had turned down $1.3 billion on foreign loans which came with unacceptable conditions attached. Nonetheless, the province is expected to receive Rs16 billion in foreign aid, which is nearly 17% more than the previous year in nominal terms.

Education, meanwhile, has been allocated Rs10.6 billion in the development budget, more than the Rs9 billion it has been allocated in the operating budget. The substantial investments in education include upgrading 370 schools, 300 additional class rooms and 200 new primary schools. About 4.6 million students of primary and middle schools will be provided free books and 400,000 girls will be provided scholarships, said the finance minister.

Meanwhile, the allocations for health continued to remain meagre, expanding by less than 6%, far below the rate of inflation. In real terms, the running allocation for health is expected to decline in fiscal year 2012.

As one of the worst-hit provinces by the 2010 floods, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will be spending up to Rs16.8 billion (about 20% of the development budget) on flood relief activities, including reconstruction of government property as well as spending in areas worst hit by the floods.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Infrastructure: Sindh plans to invest and catch up with Punjab</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187215/infrastructure-sindh-plans-to-invest-and-catch-up-with-punjab</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187215/infrastructure-sindh-plans-to-invest-and-catch-up-with-punjab#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 11 04:57:24 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=187215</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Development plan includes massive upgrades to Sindh’s power and transportation infrastructure.]]>
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				<![CDATA[In order to compete with other provinces, Sindh plans to invest massively in its physical infrastructure, allocating most of its development budget for that effort, said Dr Kaiser Bengali, advisor to the Sindh chief minister, at a post-budget press conference in Karachi on Saturday.


Bengali laid out an ambitious development plan for the province that included massive upgrades to Sindh’s power and transportation infrastructure. He pointed out that, of the total development budget for the province for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, two-thirds had been allocated towards infrastructure spending.

“Our target is to construct motorways of European standards and most of these motorways will be completed over the next 7 years,” he said.

The emphasis on infrastructure seems spurred by the feeling amongst the PPP-led administration in the province that Sindh’s physical infrastructure is inferior to that of Punjab and needs significant improvements. 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Handbrake: Car sales drop to lowest level in 2011</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187224/handbrake-car-sales-drop-to-lowest-level-in-2011</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187224/handbrake-car-sales-drop-to-lowest-level-in-2011#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 11 04:54:18 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[express]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Budget uncertainty holds back transactions in market: Analyst.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Car sales dropped to their lowest level this year in May as the sector became uncertain of the measures that will be taken in the budget.


Sales dropped six per cent to 11,479 units in May against 12,172 units sold in April, according to data released by Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association on Saturday.

This is a trend seen over the years, said Topline Securities analyst Furqan Punjani, adding that consumers and retailers both tend to hold back on buying or selling a month before the budget.

The budget, announced on June 3, removed special excise duty and decreased GST on car sales tfrom 17% to 16%. This will lead to cars prices falling approximately two to three per cent and improving sales, said Punjani.

We are talking roughly of around Rs35,000 per car difference from these measures, said Punjani while terming it significant.

Sales fell the most in the last two weeks of the month, says an industry official.

Toyota Corolla – the highest selling car of the year – sales fell 19 per cent despite the company introducing new models of the car last month. The new models, however, came with a Rs40,000 higher price tag.

“Increasing prices may act as a bump to a significant growth in its sales going forward,” said an analyst when the company introduced new models.

Honda sales plummeted 73 per cent with City leading the way as it sales fell to 582 units from 1,028 units.

The company’s production level more than halved in May that caused a slowdown in sales, analyst said.

“Sales in June might also witness a similar trend,” added Punjani.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Budget reactions: Sindh’s agricultural tax targets mocked</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187210/budget-reactions-sindh%e2%80%99s-agricultural-tax-targets-mocked</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187210/budget-reactions-sindh%e2%80%99s-agricultural-tax-targets-mocked#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 11 04:45:03 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[farhan.zaheer]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=187210</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Experts agree that target is too low, shows lack of will.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Economists and analysts have described the Sindh government’s efforts to collect the agricultural tax as weak-willed and insufficient.


“The tax collection target of Rs427 million from agriculture income is itself a joke. This figure should have been in billions of rupees,” said Muzammil Aslam, an economist at JS Global Capital. “This tax target is a drama and it is just to fool this nation and nothing more than this.”

The Sindh government is targeting Rs427 million in tax collections from agriculture income in fiscal year 2012, up 34% from Rs281 million collected last year. Aslam estimates that the Sindh government should be able to collect as much as Rs36 billion in tax revenues from the agriculture sector, far higher than its current targets.

“This half-hearted approach of the government shows that they have decided to run this country on foreign aid or on tax collection from the salaried class,” Aslam said.

At a post-budget press conference on Saturday, Sindh Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah said that the Sindh government wants to improve its mechanism for agricultural income tax collection.

Shah admitted that the agricultural tax is not collected properly and even went as far as saying that tax collection on agriculture income has actually been decreasing every year. “I don’t think that government would be able to collect Rs427 million this year,” said Muhammad Sohail, CEO of Topline Securities, a brokerage firm. “The reason is clear that I don’t see any change in government approach towards tax collection.”

People were expecting a new approach from Sindh government in this budget to improve agriculture income tax, but it was evident from the budget speech that government is not serious in improving the situation we are in, he said.

 

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Health budget: ‘Record allocation shows govt’s intent</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187255/health-budget-%e2%80%98record-allocation-shows-govt%e2%80%99s-intent</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187255/health-budget-%e2%80%98record-allocation-shows-govt%e2%80%99s-intent#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 11 04:13:19 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[express]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Punjab]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Punjab govt plans to establish new hospitals, trauma centres.]]>
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				<![CDATA[“It’s for the first time in the history of the province that such a high percentage of funds have been allocated for the health sector in the annual budget,” parliamentary health secretary Dr Saeed Elahi said on Saturday.


Dr Elahi said that the budget for health had been increased to Rs48.8 billion which was 14 per cent more than the previous year.

He said more mobile health units will be purchased at a cost of Rs700 million to provide latest health facilities to people in remote areas.

He said Rs5.2 billion has been allocated for special pay packages for doctors and nurses; Rs23.44 billion for hospital services; Rs1.92 billion for administrative expenses; Rs120 million for public health services; and Rs647 million for chemical examiner and drug testing laboratories.

Dr Elahi said a 410-bed hospital would be constructed in Bahawalpur at a cost of Rs500 million.

Two trauma centres, one near Lahore and the second at Bhera Interchange on motorway, would be established with Rs132 million.

He said besides completing the Cardiology Institute in Rawalpindi, the Health Department would establish an Institute of Urology and Fatima Jinnah Dental Institute in Lahore.

He said that Multan Institute of Cardiology will be expanded and the number of beds at Children Hospital in Multan increased by 200. Burn units would also be established in Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad with Rs205 million allocations.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Development spending: South Punjab given its fair share, says Khosa</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187279/development-spending-south-punjab-given-its-fair-share-khosa</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/187279/development-spending-south-punjab-given-its-fair-share-khosa#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 11 04:06:19 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[anwer.sumra]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Punjab]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=187279</guid>
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				<![CDATA[‘Sharifs’ Raiwind residence does not qualify as farmhouse’.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Punjab government will raise development spending for south Punjab from 14 per cent of the province’s annual development budget in 2007-08 to 32 per cent for the next fiscal year, senior advisor to the chief minister Sirdar Zulfiqar Khosa told the post-budget press conference in the Darbar Hall of the Civil Secretariat on Saturday.


An estimated 31 per cent of the population of the province lives in south Punjab. Khosa said that the 2011-12 budget was “public-friendly” and focused on the much-neglected southern region. The government had also tried to dispel the perception that development can take place in the big cities in isolation by allocating significant sums to schemes for rural development.

The budget includes a new tax on farm houses. Khosa said many well-off people had built farmhouses on the outskirts of Lahore where they spent the weekend. “They have the capacity to pay tax,” he said.

Khosa said that the Raiwind property of the Sharifs did not qualify as a farmhouse as it was a residence.

However, after a word from the Planning and Development chairman, Khosa said that if the property qualified for the new tax, it would be taxed.

However, the budget contains no new taxes on agricultural produce. Khosa said that the federal government had asked the provinces to impose an agriculture tax. He said that the provinces would consider it “with mutual understanding”.

The government has allocated Rs5 billion for the repair and construction of new farm-to-market roads to promote agriculture products and improve farmers’ income, he added.

He said that the government’s new employment generation scheme was for young graduates under the age of 35 who were still unemployed.

The government would encourage students to participate to make sure that the scheme is transparent and only those who qualify benefit from it. No quota will be allocated for parliamentarians, he said.

About the use of foreign aid, Khosa said the government would not accept any loan or aid which came with political conditions attached. The government would get loans from the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank instead, he said.

He said the Punjab faced more power outages than the other provinces and these had ruined industry and agriculture and indirectly diminished the purchasing power of the common man. The government has inked agreements with three Muslim countries for energy generation to narrow gap between electricity demand and supply, he said.

Finance Minister Kamran Michael and Finance Secretary Tariq Bajwa sat besides Khosa during the press conference, but the latter did most of the talking. To a question, Michael said Khosa was the senior advisor to the chief minister and was thus representing the head of the provincial government at the press conference.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12th, 2011.]]>
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