Despite its many promises, the PTI, much before covid-19 hit, failed spectacularly at delivering an economy running on all cylinders, growing at an impressive rate and creating ‘more jobs than we would know what to do with’. When the worst economic repercussions of a once-in-a-century global pandemic, it dealt a debilitating blow, recovering from which will be a long uphill battle where there are no shortcuts or room for slacking. The high turnover in the finance and economic team thus far has made it near impossible to reach a level of stability required to implement crucial policies that would steer the ship in at least the right direction, if not at full speed. Prime Minister Imran Khan’s latest choice for Finance Minister, Shaukat Tareen, seems to be well aware of the myriad challenges he faces and has some bold plans to address them.
In an interview to Bloomberg, he highlighted what must be achieved within the next year to have a chance at putting Pakistan back on the road to economic growth. One of the major takeaways is the intention to spend $6 billion on development in the coming financial year for the economy to expand by at least 5 percent. This in itself is quite a tall order given the severe spending restrictions the country currently faces, not to mention its exhausted debt lines with ‘friendly countries’ and IFIs (international financial institutions) alike. Mr Tareen emphasizes on the need for job creation, stating how the country has almost ‘110 million youth’, requiring 2 million annual jobs. Generating that sort of employment would only be possible if the GDP is growing annually and consistently at a rate much higher than the current -0.4 percent to one percent. Understandably, the increased spending will create more employment but the former remains a big ‘if’ unless the required budgetary allowances are somehow created.
On the revenue front, Tareen is targeting Rs6 trillion, which is a mammoth task given the longstanding systemic and structural issues with the tax collection apparatus of the country, yet to be fixed, despite many attempts. Realistic or not, there is no denying that the country is in dire need of the kind of economic upswing being envisioned by the new Finance Minister. Coupled with the IMF’s intention to ‘help Pakistan navigate itself out of this economic slump’, Mr Tareen’s optimism determination could get us out of the red. Whether or not this combination succeeds, only time will tell.
