PRIME suggests key areas of focus for new government

Issues include economic recovery, diplomacy, water scarcity and taxation reform

ISLAMABAD: The Policy Research Institute of Market Economy (PRIME) has laid out a 100-day reform agenda for the incoming government, stressing that economic growth will come as Pakistan facilitates businesses and improves governance.

After a wide-ranging discussion with various stakeholders, including civil society, business leaders, academics, policymakers and economists, PRIME said that the new government should focus on the following key areas in its first 100 days in power. Economic recovery and growth

Double-digit export growth and facilitating overseas remittances is required to save the country from default as Pakistan’s external sector is currently facing a crisis situation, said PRIME.

“The government should set up a five-member team consisting of the Ministers for Finance and Commerce and three experts from the private sector to draw up short and medium term proposals for this purpose.”

Improving governance

In order to improve government-run corporations, work in government offices should be moved from the manual systems to automation and the layers of hierarchy should be decreased to make decision-making more efficient.

For corporations, their policymaking boards should be strengthened and made independent of the government control.

Poverty alleviation

Due to imbalanced government policies, poor are getting poorer, while rent seekers are becoming richer through special preferential treatment, which is resulting in mass migration towards the cities.

The government should put in place a programme that can lift at least 5-7 million people out of poverty each year. Special attention should also be given to sectors that can create employment and improve the economic the wellbeing of more deprived people.



Economic diplomacy

Pakistan must announce a new foreign policy, which aligns with its economic interests and leads to open trade.

Water scarcity issues

With enough water storage capacity for only 30 days, there is a need for the new government to expedite construction of new water storage dams, which would also help us with our energy shortages.

Debt reform strategy

Pakistan must announce a new debt reform strategy on priority to manage its external and domestic debt, as its repayment consumes almost one-third of federal expenditures.



Reducing bottlenecks

Pakistan ranks rather low on the international indices for the Ease of Doing Business. All regulatory regimes should be reviewed to simplify them and remove any duplication. All ministries and departments should be asked to set-up single-windows where all enquiries can be responded.



Taxation reforms

There is a need to reverse the policy, which relies heavily on international trade taxes, and reduce the number of taxes and make the tax policy more transparent. This would also restructure the Federal Board of Revenue to make it more independent and reliant on information technology.

Enhancing competitiveness

There is a need to improve skill level of our workers and educational standards. All other factors, which are impeding our competitiveness, should be identified and efforts should be made to address them. The Minister for Planning and Development should be tasked to conduct this exercise and report to the cabinet within two weeks. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 1^st, 2018.

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