AIOU holds pos-budget seminar

Islamabad

Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) on Wednesday held a post-budget (2017-18) seminar to analyse impact of the budgetary proposals on the national economy in order to give its academic input for having a balanced and people-friendly budget.

It was an initiative of the Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Shahid Siddiqui to get involved academicians and the students in the development of the national economy and making the budget as per the national needs, with having positive impact of the life of common man.

The main speakers at the seminar were Prof. Dr. Asad Zaman, Vice Chancellor Pakistan Institute of Development Economic (PIDE) and Dr. Waqar Ahmed, Deputy Executive Director, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), who gave detailed presentations on various aspects of the budgetary proposals and suggested ways and means for tightening the monetary system to avoid inflation ensuring less burden on the people.

Dr. Shahid Siddiqui said that the University will be holding such events on regular basis in order to help the policy-makers to make the budget more rationale, as per the aspirations of the people. It is part of the University’s consistent efforts to focus on the issues of public interest through research journals and holding national and international conference.

He announced that they will soon publish a research-journal on economics that he hoped will serve as policy-document for budget’s preparation. The university will be going to have fourteen research journals by the end of this year.

The speakers briefed the university’s faculty members and the research-scholars about the new taxation measures. They called for keeping up the spirit of fairness and efficiency in the budget-making process.

Dr. Waqar Ahmed giving detail analysis of the budgetary proposals (2017-18) underlined the need of consolidating tax collection methods and broadens of tax-base, so that it could bring due benefits to the producing and manufacturing sectors.

There should be simplification and transparency in the whole financial management system, he added. He also called for bringing reforms in the federal excise duties. The positive impact of annual 5.6 percent GDP growth must be transferred to the society, he asserted.

Dr. Asad Zaman, presented the micro-picture of the budget, as well as its Islamic aspect.  He pleaded for enforcement of interest-free economy, stating it not impossible, if there is a Will to do so at the highest level.

It was amazing that the government had been paying huge interest on domestic and international loans, instead of spending the financial resources on social sector. He contended that the Capitalist system is more or less is based on exploitation of the working class. He called for maximum check on financial and Corporate-sector’s lobby that was mainly engaged in making interest and profit.

“We need honest and man-of-integrity people to do justice with the people in budget’s preparation’s process,” he added.