According to a dispatch from the International Monetary Fund, the country’s budget deficits are expected to reach nearly 6 percent of the gross domestic product for the current fiscal year which are almost 2 percent more than the budgetary limit of 3.9 percent. The fund puts the fiscal deficits for 2016-17 at 6.3 percent, at least 0.5 percent higher than the official accounts, closing at 5.8 percent of the GDP. The deficits include the sale of a printing press owned by the government to the State Bank, sale of an LNG-based power project to a government-owned development fund, and allegedly acquisition of the ‘dormant’ accounts from the public saving schemes. The government also admits and projects the deficits at 5.8 percent of the GDP for 2016-17 against 3.8 percent budgeted targets. The IMF dispatch claims the fiscal deficits have reached 1.2 percent of the GDP during the first quarter of 2017-18 as compared to 1.3 percent during the same period of the last year. The 0.1 percent lower deficits are attributed to the strong growth of revenue collection by the Federal Board of Revenue which is purportedly increased by 20 percent. The fiscal deficits are expected to be Rs 1.956 trillion or 5.5 percent of the GDP, excluding grants, for the current fiscal year.
The country is suffering fiscal deficit, trade deficit, budget deficit and all other kinds of deficits and still the government seeks loans and grants from international financial institutions without realizing the consequences. The government ministers and fund managers are not tired of claiming the good shape of economy whereas the economic recovery has not only been halted, but also sent into the reverse gear. Dr Miftah Ismail, the Prime Minister’s current Adviser on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, has rejected the IMF projections with regard to the public sector development programme. The IMF has projected the allocations for the programme at Rs 800 billion for the current fiscal year and the adviser puts the allocations beyond Rs 900 billion.
Amid political crisis and currency meltdown, there is no hope for economic recovery during the current government’s tenure. The nation has already been mortgaged to the foreign lending agencies and now the government is eying on public saving schemes. The prices of petroleum products are increased every month and duty and tariffs in the utility bills have crossed the actual amount of electricity and gas. No one knows when the policymakers will learn to manage the financial and economic affairs of the country.
