Devalued rupee, hiked power, gas tariff even before IMF’s conditions: Asad Umar

Speaking in BBC’s Hard Talk, minister says monetary, fiscal policies moving in direction of reforms required by IMF

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance Asad Umar on Wednesday said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government devalued rupee against US dollar and increased prices of electricity and gas even before going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package.

“We did not wait for IMF to impose any condition on us to do what we were required to do …  in the very first 100 days we increased electricity prices, gas prices, we put in place a supplementary finance budget, we increased taxes, the currency has been adjusted by the central bank, and policy rate has also been increased,” he stated while speaking in BBC News programme “Hard Talk”.

Finance Minister Asad Umar Exclusive Interview on BBC News HARDtalk with Stephen Sackur (12.12.18)@Asad_Umar @BBCHARDtalk
•In surveys,majority Pakistanis showed confidence in PTI govt
•Changing economy from imported capital,consumption led to productivity led,export oriented pic.twitter.com/EFAWsR6Jhq

— PTI (@PTIofficial) December 12, 2018

Umar said both the monetary and fiscal policies were moving in direction of reforms that are required by the IMF. “There is no difference of opinion with the IMF in terms of what needs to be done ... it is the pace, the sequence in the extent which is being discussed,” he added.

The finance minister said when the current government came into power, it was a well-known fact that Pakistan needed some kind of bailout. Therefore, the government had to go around to the friendly countries to seek some kind of immediate assistance to support the reeling economy, he added.



Asad Umar said when he became finance minister, the government reached out to friendly countries for bilateral financial assistance as well as starting a dialogue with IMF simultaneously, because it had no time to first work out a strategy and then start negotiations.

"That was what I exactly did within 10 days of becoming finance minister, we reached out to IMF and started formal dialogue with it along with going to the friendly countries for assistance."

The minister said the surveys, held to evaluate the performance of the economy after passing of 100 days of current government, suggested that the economy was moving in the right direction. “Hope is very much in the air,” he remarked.

“If you looked in reality, keeping aside the discussions going on in TV talk shows, you would find that a number of surveys were carried out recently, showed that the government was doing correct things to set the economy in the right direction.”

•People of Balochistan led by CM @jam_kamal are keen for more CPEC investment
•USA shouldn’t worry about Pakistan’s china debt
•Tax policy&administration separated in FBR, going after tax evaders @Asad_Umar @BBCHARDtalk pic.twitter.com/uVppm8RGtK

— PTI (@PTIofficial) December 12, 2018

To a question regarding Saudi Arabia's assistance, the minister said, "I would be happy to be ashamed of standing out with a country with which we have close cooperation… may be the western leaders should be ashamed of themselves talking about freedom, talking about democracy and reaching out in the same Saudi pockets to take  billions of dollars of business deals and the leader of western world Donald Trump stands up and openly says that I am getting very much business from Saudi Arabia so there is no need to worry about what happened to Jamal Khashoggi.”

He went on to say, “We are just consistent in the bilateral relationship with Saudi Arabia which remains the same regardless of which government is in the power."

He said Pakistan's relationship with Saudi Arabia goes back half a century and it had nothing to do with Yemen or Khashoggi.

With respect to investment under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Balochistan, the minister said the provincial government was eager to enhance investment in the province under CPEC. He said Pakistan's debts payable to China were only less than 10 per cent of its total debts while the US was the largest borrower with over $1.3 trillion in debts from China.

To another question, Asad Umar said people of Balochistan were patriotic Pakistanis but there were some sponsored activities of terrorists who were trained and funded from outside of the country.



"There are concerted efforts led by India to damage CPEC. People of Balochistan have elected a government that fully stands by CPEC and have also shown loyalty with Pakistan."

To a question regarding tax reforms, he said the government took several new initiatives aimed at enhancing tax base and revenue for socio-economic development of the country. "The revenue generation aspect is absolutely central to be able to deal with the horrendous challenge that we have.

"Health and education situation needs drastic reforms and for that you need revenue and for that you need an efficient revenue authority," he said, adding, "We have separated tax policy from tax administration. Almost entire top leadership of revenue authority has been changed, modern technology is being utilised to chase out those, who are evading taxes and 3,100 of them have already been served notices, whereas a list of over 7,000 top tax evaders has been prepared."