My nine-point reforms plan got lost: Tarin

KARACHI: Former finance minister Shaukat Tarin has said that his nine-point reforms programme for sustainable economic growth seems to have been lost somewhere as it is nowhere to be seen in the current budget.

According to a press release issued on Friday, he said this while addressing a post-budget seminar organised by the Southern Regional Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) here on Thursday.

Tarin said that the government should pursue the programme introduced by him. Giving his opinion on the budget 2010-11, he said that the delay in the imposition of Value Added Tax (VAT) would not affect the IMF programme. “The IMF does not direct us to impose any specific tax,” he added.

He said that lack of resources and an abysmal tax-to-GDP ratio are some of the major causes of the low economic growth. “We have to enhance the tax base as all sectors should be brought under the tax net,” he added.

He noted that the tax-to-GDP ratio and savings level in Pakistan are the lowest in the region, adding there is a need to increase the savings ratio by one per cent every year over the next 10 years.

Published in the Express Tribune, June12th, 2010.