No quick fixes

LAHORE: There are no shortcuts in planning and development. To move ahead in the right direction the planner must take stock of the existing economic situation; analyze the shortcomings and the time needed to address them and then fix future targets.

In an economy facing so many problems it requires a stable government to chalk out a plan. The caretaker government definitely cannot be expected to remove hurdles in its short tenure. It has up till now done excellent work in smoothing the operations of bureaucracy and reducing red tape.

They must however realize that the temporarily tamed bureaucrats are biding their time. They would most probably be back to their normal ways once the power is handed over to a democratically elected government.

The caretakers must ensure that the actions taken by them on economic fronts would not be reversed. They should refrain from fixing long term economic targets that would not be achieved during their tenure.

Instead they should concentrate on improving governance and start making all bureaucrats accountable for ruling officials that bypass rules. They cannot give a long time roadmap as things would not be under their control after change of power. But if they ensured strict adherence to rules already enacted by elected parliament, they would ensure that things would generally move in the right direction.

They for instance must collect all power dues from federal and provincial departments before they hand over power. The caretaker Cabinet should give clear instruction to cut power if the bill is not paid 15 days after its issuance. The next federal government would then have its hands tied. It cannot ask the power companies for lenient behavior because it would be against law and could be challenged in courts.

There are various avenues involving common citizens where graft and incompetence is because of the untold immunity that government officials get on violating rules.

The caretakers should make the government work. They have no business in fixing export targets when the governance is as bad as ever. No country has ever achieved higher manufacturing exports where transparency fails at every step a file moves.

The exporters have even to part with some most expensive apparel that the export clearing officer needs. Since this practice takes place just before exports, the supplier has to pay a penalty for short supplies to the buyers.

We need an absolute transparent software that is simple to operate for filing the refund of sales tax on exported goods.

An objection on a certain sales tax paid purchase should be restricted to the refund on that portion and not the entire consignment. If after transparent investigation it is proved that the assessing officer or computer glitch was the cause, stern action must be taken against the culprits.

Caretakers should clean the mess and should not create more problems for the future government. They should refrain from fixing targets that look unattainable.

Pakistan’s total exports for instance would remain in the range of $40 billion in the next two years and it would be impossible to add $20 billion exports in each of the next three years to achieve the $100 billion export target. Inability to achieve target results in national disappointment. We must achieve all our economic targets to give confidence to the nation on our ability to deliver as planned.