Minister Dar vows greater openness in financial matters

ISLAMABAD: The government unveiled the tax directory of members of national and provincial assemblies fourth year in a row to demonstrate its commitment towards transparency, good governance and fighting corruption, finance minister Ishaq Dar said on Thursday.

“During the present government’s tenure, we have been publishing the tax directory of our parliamentarians for the last three years,” Dar told a workshop on the Open Government Partnership (OGP), an international platform committed towards making governments more open, accountable and responsive to citizens.

Florencio Butch Abad, OGP envoy and founding member, Joe Powell, deputy chief executive officer at OGP, Joanna Reid, head of UK’s Department for International Development and others attended the workshop.

Pakistan has already met the eligibility threshold for membership of OGP by meeting 15 out of the 16 criteria. Late last year, the government also submitted the letter of intent for the country to join the OGP. 

“Pakistan would be happy to partner in OGP, as it will help Pakistan promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance,” finance minister said in a statement. 

Finance minister said the country has made unprecedented progress in improving fiscal transparency through public availability of information and reliable fiscal reporting. 

“Pakistan is one of the very few countries in the world to publish such a directory,” he added. “It is our government’s strong view that tax compliance by parliamentarians plays an important role in promoting a culture of tax compliance across the country, because the actions of public representatives in any democracy serve as an example for its citizens.”

Minister Dar said an important requirement of joining OGP is to develop a National Action Plan which would be the product of a co-creation process in which government, civil society and the private sector would identify ambitious commitments and a roadmap to foster transparency, accountability and public participation in government processes. 

“To this end, OGP provides a domestic policy mechanism through which government and civil society establish an ongoing dialogue on the design, implementation and monitoring of the commitments made by them,” he added. “In order to develop the National Action Plan, the Economic Affairs Division has organised a number of awareness and consultative meetings in Islamabad, as well as the provincial capitals.” 

The national action plan is based on fiscal transparency, access to information, public officials’ asset disclosure, citizen engagement/civil liberties, use of digital, access to justice, strengthening accountability and improving business environment.

In September 2016, Pakistan also became a signatory to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.  The government also signed the revised version of exchange of information in order to curb tax evasion, after three years long negotiations with Swiss authorities.

“We are cognizant of the fact that transparency, good governance and elimination of corruption will play a vital role in Pakistan’s economic success in the future,” finance minister said.  He said the fiscal deficit has been reduced from 8.2 percent in FY2013 to 4.6 percent in FY2016, through higher revenue collection, revoking of concessionary statutory regulatory orders and curtailing of non-development expenditure. Tax collection rose around 73 percent in the last four years as compared to growth of 3.38 percent only in FY2013. Foreign exchange reserves are sufficient for import cover of more than four months as compared to only a few weeks of import cover in 2013, he added. 

Dar said the country achieved growth of 5.3 percent in the last fiscal year, ended on 30 June, 2017, the highest in a decade. The economy’s size has surpassed $300 billion for the first time ever. Currently, per capita income stands at $1,629 as compared to $1,334 four years ago, a 22 percent increase. Inflation is expected to be 4.38 percent in FY2017 as compared to annual average of 12 percent between FY2008 and FY2013. 

Minister said Pakistan also completed all 12 reform steps of the International Monetary Fund’s extended fund facility program signed in September 2016 for the first time in our history.  Federal public sector development program (PSDP) worth Rs1,001 billion for the current fiscal year is more than three times PSDP of Rs324 billion in FY2013, he added. 

Dar said Price Waterhouse Coopers projected Pakistan to be amongst the 20 largest economies of the world by the year 2030. A recent Harvard study has also indicated that Pakistan’s economy will have 6 percent growth in the next 10 years, second highest in South Asia, he added.