Deliberate misstatements
There have been reports that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is unhappy with Mr Dar’s performance.
The finance ministry is simply too important to be left with somebody facing difficulty in dealing with the pressure. PHOTO: WASEEM NIAZ
It is becoming increasingly clear that, after a strong start, the Nawaz Administration is losing its nerve on economic management. First, there was the failure to crack down on tax evasion. Then there was the panic over the rupee’s declining value. And now we learn that the government tried to inaccurately put the blame on the caretaker government for the few paltry tax increases it did levy in the federal budget for fiscal year 2014.
For Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to have deliberately misstated the facts to his own cabinet colleagues and the nation would have been embarrassing enough. For the misstatements to be corrected by officials at the International Monetary Fund kicks up this particular episode to something of a diplomatic disaster.
There are no excuses for such behaviour. While it is true that Mr Dar had little time before he had to present a budget to parliament, ultimately, it was his decision to levy the tax increases and he should own it. And why is he even afraid to admit that he allowed the increases to go ahead in the first place? Is he afraid to confront the big business groups whose tax exemptions were taken away by the measures that would raise the government Rs200 billion a year in revenues? Is he prevaricating on the issue to his own colleagues and the Pakistani people just so that he can save face in front of lobbyists?
For a party that has run the country twice before and was running its largest province for the last five years before they came into office at the federal level, the PML-N has increasingly begun to act like first-timers on the job. We understand that the challenges of running Pakistan’s economy are daunting. But panic at the top level only makes the problem worse. There have been reports that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is unhappy with Mr Dar’s performance. If his performance continues like this, the prime minister should seriously consider alternative candidates for the job. The finance ministry is simply too important to be left with somebody facing difficulty in dealing with the pressure.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2014.
For Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to have deliberately misstated the facts to his own cabinet colleagues and the nation would have been embarrassing enough. For the misstatements to be corrected by officials at the International Monetary Fund kicks up this particular episode to something of a diplomatic disaster.
There are no excuses for such behaviour. While it is true that Mr Dar had little time before he had to present a budget to parliament, ultimately, it was his decision to levy the tax increases and he should own it. And why is he even afraid to admit that he allowed the increases to go ahead in the first place? Is he afraid to confront the big business groups whose tax exemptions were taken away by the measures that would raise the government Rs200 billion a year in revenues? Is he prevaricating on the issue to his own colleagues and the Pakistani people just so that he can save face in front of lobbyists?
For a party that has run the country twice before and was running its largest province for the last five years before they came into office at the federal level, the PML-N has increasingly begun to act like first-timers on the job. We understand that the challenges of running Pakistan’s economy are daunting. But panic at the top level only makes the problem worse. There have been reports that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is unhappy with Mr Dar’s performance. If his performance continues like this, the prime minister should seriously consider alternative candidates for the job. The finance ministry is simply too important to be left with somebody facing difficulty in dealing with the pressure.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2014.