the cabinet in its meeting on July 25, gave ratification powers to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for all economic decisions to be taken by the ECC. PHOTO: FILE
The cabinet has given free hand to the Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to implement the decisions of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) without ratification on reversing decisions taken by the previous Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government.
According to the documents available with The Express Tribune, the cabinet in its meeting held on July 25 was informed that Dar, who is also the chairman of the ECC, had proposed the restoration of the charter and mandate of the ECC whereby the body will be the final decision maker on economic policy of the country.
In the meeting, it was said that the restriction imposed by the then prime minister on March 13, 2009 regarding ratification of the decisions of the ECC by the cabinet did not serve the purpose of good governance and efficient decision-making. It was further said that removing bureaucratic red tape, speedier action to resolve the vital economic issues was not possible if the ECC kept on operating in such a restricted environment.
The cabinet meeting was informed that the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had accordingly approved proposal of the ECC Chairman Dar. The cabinet was further informed that rule 17(1)(c) of the Rules of Business, 1973 stipulated that the cases referred to the cabinet shall be, inter alia, be disposed of by discussion at a meeting of the committee of the cabinet, provided that the decisions of the ECC shall be ratified by the cabinet unless the cabinet, itself, had authorised otherwise.
Earlier in a meeting held on August 5, 2009 had decided that in the future, decisions taken by the ECC and other committees of the cabinet shall be circulated to all the ministers. The decisions were supposed to be, however, submitted to the cabinet for information, and if considered necessary, the decisions will be discussed.
The cabinet in the meeting on July 25 was requested to consider the proposal of the chairman of the ECC for disbanding the requirement of ratifications (of ECC’s decisions) by the cabinet. The requirement of ratification of decisions of other committees of the cabinet will however remain intact.
The cabinet considered the summary and decided that the decisions of the ECC of the cabinet within the scope of its charter shall not be subject to ratification of the cabinet. It was further decided that the cabinet shall be kept informed of all the decisions taken by the ECC.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 9th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (20)
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@Parvez Amin:
Pervez Sahib ...stolen money can never come back because we are all exposed in this Hammam ..."steam bath "
@Supersequel: seems you are very attached to Ishaq dar saab ..know about his cash flow and budgets ...
@ Lahori, couldn't agree anymore and his performance in the past stint proves your point. Its Family Inc. May Allah have mercy on people of this country.
@Lahori: Don't forget he is the relative of Nawaz and even a sweeper, a clerk, a tailor can run the country getting IMF loans better than him.
I just hope that he will be able to think beyon Sharif Industries and Punjab...
I also hope that economic growth and benefits will trickle down to masses..
Look forward to incentives for doemstic, commercial, industrial consumer to invest in Solar Power solutioins
Hope expat Pakistanis will be facilitated..
Mr Dar is a relative of PM who is an industrialist and an agent of the imperial class; The 1st step immediately after coming to power is their policy of getting loan from IMF.
Even a cook, a shop-keeper, a tailor, a barber, a sweeper can run the country getting loans. what is the special quality associated with Mr DAR?
@Lahori You Sir, are spot on. The root cause of Pakistan's problems is a widespread lack of education, especially in the ruling classes, as a cursory survey of our MNAs would show. The fact that an accountant has been given absolute control over our economy is an absolute disgrace. Anyone familiar with the accountancy courses will readily understand just how inadequate the training is for directing the economic course of a nation of 180 million people. But the greater fault lies with the entity who saw fit to grant a single individual, and that too a person singularly unqualified for the job, these powers. Pakistan has been reduced to a schoolboys' club. No wonder that we are going from worse to disastrous economically. What use is the planning commission, the several Pakistani developmental-, welfare-, industrial- etc economists to Pakistan when those in charge make such monumentally foolish decisions ? The bane of Pakistan is having incompetent top management, who then proceed to populate the ranks of lower & middle managers with similarly incompetent people.
@Lahore: Ben Bernanke is the head of their Central Bank, whereas the current Secretary of Treasury is Jack Lew, a JD from George Town University, his predecessor, Timothy Geithner was a former employee at Goldman Sachs
The final responsibility for what happens to our economy does not rest on Mr Dar. It sits squarely on the shoulders of the man who appointed him and gave him such sweeping powers. So for the sake of all of us, let us do what we can to support Mr Dar in his difficult task. My suggestion, take actions that bring back all money stolen from Pakistan.
@Supersequel: Haha. You are right about the grammar I wrote. If it is that important, please consider 'were' replaced by 'was' and 'never had made' with 'never have made'. Thanks. However, I personally would never 'judge' Mr, Dar (or a person with bad grammar for that matter). The job of a finance minister requires technical expertise. For instance, US has Ben Bernanke (Head of Economics department at MIT). @Syed Ismail: The difference between UK and Pakistan is that the institutions are very strong there. The Chancellor of Exchequer in UK shares his party's vision (like creating more jobs, bringing in more investment etc) with his team. If you go a bit into detail, you may actually see that the UK's Exchequer commands an army of PhD's in Finance, Economics, Mathematics and so on from Oxford, Cambridge etc. On the other hand, our Finance Minister comes up with 'ideas' like increasing GST by 1 percent to increase revenues by Rs. 120 billion. This approach is extremely short sighted and can only be envisioned by a person who lacks basic understanding macroeconomics.
He is the right person for the job and we support him bcz he is appointed by a democratically elected PM.
@Supersequel:
I'm an educated man, and went to a better university than he did. Doesn't mean I have the skills required for THIS position.
@Supersequel: His grammar is fine. Also regardless of what your opinion is of Mr. Dar, are you saying that all or even most appointments in Pakistan are by merit?
@Supersequel: In fact, I was thinking precisely the same about you, chap!
How unfortunate, he is not the most competent person to handle this task!
Royal Finance Minister wishes imperial powers. :D His competancy is obvious from the price hikes witnessed in his tenure as Finance Minister, clothed with more authority he can make lives of poor miserable. Oh, actually he knows the trick that how useful inflation is for his very own industrialist and business community because end users-ordinary people have to pay in the end.
@Lahori Educational background does not determine your qualification for a post. The current British Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne was a graduate in Modern History. What matters is your determination and your team.
@Lahori, your grammar sucks and you shouldn't be writing or judging anyone's skills by the way. You really seem to believe Pakistan just hires anybody for a post? He is an educated man and a smart one too, who can control cash flow and budgeting
Politics is treated by PML N as a family business there giving full control of finances to a close relative is understandable.
If education were our priority 30 years back, this person could never had made to this strategic post. This guy is an Accountant and NOT and Economist. Only if our nation understood.