Growing pains

The Sustainable Development Policy Institute has long been a forum for the dissection of government policies

The professional number crunchers have got their teeth into the recent government mini-budget and they are none too impressed. The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) has long been a forum for the dissection of government policies and actions and Monday September 24 was no exception. The business community and civil society had been gathered to discuss ‘Amendments in Finance Bill 2018-19’. It would be fair to say that there was widespread disappointment with the mini-budget which was judged to bring sunshine to the Milbus nexus ‘while the poor will continue to sweat’. The government does not appear ready to implement the radical economic plans that were trailed immediately pre-and post-election.

Housing and property in general were singled out, with it being noted that the largest and easiest form of corruption was rooted in the sale and purchase of real estate. The withdrawal of the condition to file taxes relative to purchasing property is no more than a licence to multiply upmarket housing developments and does nothing to address the burning issue of a shortfall of millions of houses at the lower end of the market.

The government had its defenders who in fairness pointed out that it had been in power less than a 100 days, and it ought to be given at least a fiscal quarter for new policy measures to be tested. Further consultation with stakeholders is on the cards, more analysts are to be consulted and the shambles that the PTI inherited will indeed be addressed — but not as quickly as some had hoped — or dreamed — for. The government is on to a hiding to nothing, and it needs to sharpen up if it is not to be battered by all sides. The mini-budget was weak on vision and direction and turned out to be mutton dressed as lamb. True there are beneficiaries at the lower end of the income tax slabs and that we welcome, but there has been an overall failure to expand the tax base and throwing scraps to the poor fixes nothing. You can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time…

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2018.

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