Switching players may spoil the game

The Kaptaan is changing the “batting order” in the middle of the game, or to be put more aptly, Prime Minister Imran Khan is changing his horses in the midstream.No doubt, it is the sole prerogative of the premier to choose his team and he has done it rightly so.But the timing of these sudden changes is critical.Asad Umar had just returned from Washington after agreeing with the IMF to negotiate a bailout package when the shocking news of his sacking came.No tangible explanation was given by any quarters that why this sudden change of heart occurred, though rumors have been making rounds that he is on his way out.The sacking of Tariq Bajwa as the governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) as well as reported removal of Jehanzeb Khan, the chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), came in the same surprising way.Both were part of the government’s team negotiating the bailout package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials in the staff-level talks in Islamabad.Like Umar’s case, no one knows what prompted the government to sideline the two key negotiators in the middle of the talks.Prime Minister justifies his actions by recalling that he has reshuffled his batting order during the match, while captaining the Pakistani cricket team. But the trick that worked in the cricket might not necessarily work while running the country.Such apparent knee-jerk actions might not leave a good impression with the interlocutors from the IMF side.It would have been better if the government had brought about changes in its economic team before entering into the IMF talks or had let the existing team to finalise the deal and then would have reshuffled the team to ensure proper implementation of the deal.At the time when the government is already facing public criticism over high inflation, which is expected to widen further in the coming weeks and months as well as mounting pressure from the opposition in this regard, it is advisable for the government to avoid abrupt decision-making and take important decisions after thorough deliberations.It is widely believed that the changes in the government economic team were carried out on the desire of Prime Minister’s newly-appointed advisor on finance Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, who wanted to bring in his own confidantes into the team to implement his agenda. Interestingly, the outgoing governor of the central bank himself did not know the reason behind his removal and just said he had been told to step down as by law the governor of central bank could not be sacked through an executive order.Speculations about the removal of the FBR chief have been in the air for quite some time for grossly missing the revenue collection target.Some observers believe that the changes in the economic team were prompted by the budget-making exercise that is likely to be started soon after the end of the talks with the IMF team.Inflation has currently emerged as the most serious challenge for the government as it could ill-afford a major unrest among the people in the wake of a growing opposition onslaught.Following the recent big increase in the fuel prices, the country could see a new wave of price hikes, which would coincide with the start of month of Ramzan.At present, the government has no readily available option to contain the inflation and give any relief to masses as it has to take tough measures to plug the huge fiscal gap to stem the rot.Though prime minister has been repeatedly giving assurances that the stabilisation phase of the economy would take at least a couple of years during which the government has to take painful structural reforms but the main question is whether the government is politically strong enough and has the required political will to implement these reforms in letter and spirit, despite tough opposition from its rivals.The government is also heavily banking on the Chinese help in the crucial agriculture sector under the second phase of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as Prime Minister hopes that this help would ensure a very high economic growth for the country in the next couple of years because it would spur economy by creating job opportunities in this vital sector.The government leaders, particularly Prime Minister, are also very optimistic about luring big foreign investments into the country as well as significantly raising country’s exports that would help end a slowdown in economy and create jobs for the unemployed youth.But such feel-good stories could not be substitute to the much-delayed structural reforms that are needed to be taken in the earnest.Instead of relying heavily on revenue collection through brutal taxing of the poor people, the government needs to collect taxes from the powerful lobbies that are staying out of the tax net.So far, the government has not taken any steps to broaden the tax net by bringing powerful lobbies into the tax net.Though the government has declared a war on corruption but the general perception is that this crackdown is mainly focused on the political opponents of the ruling party and no effort has been made to ensure accountability across the board.The effective implementation of the government’s reform agenda could only be possible if it is implemented through proper legislation by the parliament.So far, the parliament has been reduced to a forum aimed at settling political scores by the government and opposition.There has not been any useful discussion on this forum on the serious challenges facing the country that could guide the government towards formulating a proper policy to tackle these issues.So far, there has not been any serious effort, particularly on the part of the government, to ensure proper use of the parliament’s forum.Before coming into power, the Imran Khan has committed himself to regularly attend the parliamentary sessions not just to strengthen democracy but also ensure properly legislation on vital issues.But, unfortunately, he as well as his key ministers has rarely attended the sessions.The government is holding crucial talks with the IMF and so far there has not been any debate in the parliament that should have set the guidelines for the government for these talks.It is high time for the government, particularly Prime Minister, to ensure effective use of the parliament in crucial decision-making as it would give the much-needed political support for the implementation of tough decisions, however unpopular they are.The writer is a senior journalist based in Islamabad

from The News International - Money Matters http://bit.ly/2VMilFE