Reviving the economy: As PTI serves up reform blueprint, rivals heap scorn

Party says it will spend Rs2,000b on the poor by collecting taxes.

ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE:

The reform-minded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday unveiled an economic transformation programme that has promised, among other things, to create up to 10 million new jobs over the next five years.

The party’s senior vice president Asad Umar, the former chief executive of Engro Corporation, claimed that PTI, after coming into power, will ramp up investment spending to 21.4% of GDP by 2018 from the present level of 12.4%.

“We will spend Rs2,000 billion on the poor in five years by collecting taxes from those who maintain the status quo,” Umar said.

A reforms programme has been drafted in consultation with key stakeholders including top businessmen, academics, technical specialists, labour unions, farmer associations and the youth, he said.

Education and health reforms

There will be one modern education system for all Pakistanis. PTI plans a five-fold increase in education spending to Rs2,195 billion by 2018 to achieve 80% enrolment. Spending on health will be increased five-fold to Rs1,142 billion by 2018.

Energy reforms

PTI will focus on reducing the cost of producing electricity. It will resolve the circular debt issue and make Pakistan an energy secure state, claimed Umar.

Expenditure reforms

The PTI will slash expenditures of the presidency, the prime minister, chief ministers and governor houses by 50%. It will slim down the size of government and cut ministries to 17 from 37 as well as abolish free and subsidised plots to generals, judges, politicians, civil servants and journalists.

Tax reforms

There will be an equitable tax system for all Pakistanis. PTI will end amnesty schemes and provincial governments would collect property and agriculture tax. New tax reforms will increase tax revenue to 15% of GDP in 2018 from 9.9% in 2012, Umar said.

Institutional reforms

PTI will empower state institutions yet hold them accountable. It will devolve power from the central and provincial capitals to local communities at the grass roots level.

Accountability reforms

All accountability institutions will be outside the purview of the government to enable across the board accountability with no political interference.

Agriculture reforms

PTI targets to sustain high growth rates by increasing agriculture yields and improving efficiency of on-farm use of water and energy. PTI’s focus will remain on small farmers, ensuring access to inputs and credit needs and strengthening market linkages to ensure fair price to the small farmers, Umar said.

Earlier, giving an insight into Pakistan’s economy current situation, Umar said that average growth rate of 3% in the last five years is the lowest in Pakistan’s history.

Investment to GDP ratio has collapsed to 12.5% in the current fiscal year compared to 22.5% in 2007, PTI leader said.

‘Promising the moon’

Promising the moon to the nation, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan vowed, at the unveiling of party’s economic policy, to make the defence budget accountable, pledged to raise the level of trade with India and converting the sprawling government houses into educational institutions.

However, his political opponents dismissed his claims as “new wine in an old bottle” and lampooned his “naive” political talk.

“There is nothing new in this agenda. The incompetent PTI managers stole our agenda and presented it as their own,” said Siddiqul Farooq, the PML-N’s central leader.

“This is PML-N manifesto verbatim. We are the ones who opened up trade with India and we first spoke about converting the government residences into educational institutions. As far as defence budget is concerned, PML-N is demanding for ages to discuss the budget in parliament. So what’s new?” asked Farooq.

When asked why PML-N could not convert the government residences into educational institutions, Farooq simply replied “because there were security concerns.”

PPP former provincial finance minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira said that Imran is talking about making the defence budget accountable now, “we are the ones who brought it in parliament. What he is saying, we have already done,” said Ashraf Kaira. “Expanding trade with India without compromising the Kashmir issue has been our old policy and we have expanded the volume of our trade with India which now stands at more than a billion dollars,” he said.

Converting government residence into educational institutions is impractical and useless exercise. “PML-N wanted to do it but could not do it because educational institutions require purpose-built campuses,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2012.