Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday signed a ‘Performance Agreement of Ministries for the Year 2020-21’ which aimed at speeding up the pace of work of federal ministries for an overall improvement in governance.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Premier Imran asked the federal ministries to do their best in addressing the challenges facing the country by prioritising and channelising issues. He said being inexperience was no more an excuse for the government or the ministers.
“There is no excuse for the government for any lack of experience. It is the time to deliver,” the prime minister said, as the federal ministers, sitting side by side with the prime minister, separately signed the agreement and pledged to meet the set targets, while implementing the government’s agenda of economic prosperity.
“We will prioritise every sector or area having the potential to generate revenue,” the PM told the ministers. He warned that the persons found responsible for red-tapism in ministries, particularly in cases of projects that are beneficial to the country, would be penalised.
Imran counted power generation, subsidies, inflation, exports, food security, pension system and agriculture as the “major challenges” requiring action on urgent basis. He termed the power sector the “most complicated and complex challenge” of them all.
Imran emphasised that efforts were needed for rationalisation and synchronisation in order to address the problem of circular debt. On subsidies, he said managing the huge financial burden of Rs2,500 billion was a “real challenge”.
He endorsed subsidies for the purpose of wealth creation or benefit of the under-privileged, but opposed an across-the-board facility for the affluent. He said that hefty amount of pensions was another “liability” that required an effective and affordable system.
Imran mentioned the pensions’ scheme proposed by Dr Ishrat Hussain under the Civil Service Reforms was based on Malaysia’s Dr Mahathir formula of converting the pensions into savings.
He said including the subjects of food security and environment in the provincial list under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, made it difficult to meet the goals due to lack of coordination among the Centre and the provinces.
He said a province, which did not release the wheat stock, put an undue blame on the Centre for an overall price inflation of the commodity, adding that the increase in agricultural productivity was vital and mentioned that Pakistan was adopting techniques from China under transfer of agri-technology linked with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
He said the economy had made a remarkable turnaround in two years with current account witnessing a surplus for the last five consecutive months. “To ensure continuity of positive economic indicators, it is important to identify the pitfalls in advance,” he said.
The prime minister, in his speech, also lauded his Special Assistant on Establishment Mohammed Shehzad Arbab for the initiative of ‘Performance Agreement of Ministries’, which, he said, would ensure good governance in the country. (WITH INPUT FROM APP)
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