Govt not serious about right-sizing: Bengali

Economist says ministers, politicians and heads of govt departments have their vested interests

KARACHI:

Renowned economist Dr Kaiser Bengali has lambasted the federal government for its lack of seriousness to address the issue of right-sizing, noting that the economy is sinking and the country is on the verge of bankruptcy but the rulers seem least concerned.

"Political people, ministers and heads of different departments have their vested interests [in continuation of the status quo]," Bengali, who recently resigned from a high level committee tasked with reorganization of government departments, said on Monday.

The economist was addressing a news conference in Karachi to clarify "a few things" with regard to his resignation from the high powered committee constituted by the prime minister.

Bengali said they had recommended closing 70 departments across 53 government institutions, but the government decided to shut down only one institution.

"Initially, the high-powered reorganization committee consisted of technical experts who submitted a report. Later, two federal ministers and political figures were added to the committee and these federal ministers and political figures have their own agenda," he said.

He said now the high-powered committee for right-sizing is headed by the federal finance minister, and includes MNAs from both the PML-N and the PPP.

He said that the country is on the brink of bankruptcy, and the economy is sinking, but when you go to Islamabad, it feels as if the government is completely unaware of it.

He said before him recommendations of Hafiz Pasha and Dr Ishrat Hussain's committee on reducing government expenditures were also not implemented. "Similarly, our recommendations were also being ignored. We were often told that our concerns had been noted, but no action was taken."

He said the committee had suggested that for now, the government should only shut down certain institutions and place the employees in a surplus pool.

"Closing these institutions could have saved operational costs of Rs33 billion. However, it seems that the government is not genuinely interested in reducing expenses."

He stated that there are a total of 40 divisions, and it was recommended that decisions be made gradually for five divisions at a time. It was also proposed to summon the heads of the institutions under each division for interviews.

He noted that, despite the existence of three institutions within the Population Division, population control has not been achieved.