The Senate Standing Committee on Commerce Tuesday accused Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar of focusing on those affairs which are irrelevant to the Finance Ministry and due to this things are not going in right direction.While Senator Syed Shibli Faraz presiding over the meeting of the committee, gave these observations during discussion on Exim Bank which has not been made functional even after years of its establishment.
Senator Ilyas Bilour, Senator Karim Ahmad Khawaja and Senator Naseema Ehsan attended the meeting. Commerce Minister Engineer Khurram Dastgir did not attend the meeting. Secretary Commerce Azmat Ali Ranjha said, "According to his understanding the Finance Ministry has been unable to make the Exim Bank operational at the moment. However, Rs 7 billion have been placed at the disposal of the bank". The fundamental thing which was holding it back was professional management. The finance ministry is dealing with the hiring process of head of the Exim Bank.
He said the Commerce Ministry has one member (additional secretary) out of three-member board which implies that the ministry has effective voice in the board. The chairman committee was of the view when the board is in papers then two or three members are enough to run its affairs. "Our concern is that first time Exim Bank was mentioned in STPF 2012-15 and a number of years have passed since the bank's inception. Policies are there as their good implementation is there. We don't say that with the establishment of Exim Bank, exports will be doubled but at least it will be one of the steps which are required to be taken in this direction. If the bank becomes fully operational today, its effectiveness would start in three or four years but nothing was done in seven years," he added.
He said the Commerce Ministry was not responsible for delay in operationalization of the bank, but the credit and discredit of increase or decrease in exports would also go to the Commerce Ministry. "There should be a framework of the Exim Bank's operationalization; otherwise the committee will take up this issue in the Senate, with the observation that this is not being done and the finance minister would be asked to explain the reasons," he said.
When this is not on the priority of the finance minister, then the situation will be like the current situation. When the finance minister will keep himself involved in issues such as military courts, the current mess will continue. Senator Ilyas Bilour said that military courts issue is not the job of the finance minister. Agreeing to the viewpoint of Bilour, Chairman Standing Committee Shibli Faraz said that each and everything is being done by the finance minister as he enjoys all the decision-making powers, and due to which there would be delay in resolution of other important issues of the country.
The finance minister is busy in day-to-day 'firefighting and political issues' which is massively hurting the country, he said adding when one person does twenty things at a time, this implies nothing will be materialised. Shibli Faraz further stated that the GDP figures can't be trusted when current account deficit and fiscal deficit are on the rise.
Talking about forthcoming free trade agreements (FTAs), the chairman standing committee was of the view that the pacts should also be shared with the Parliament and standing committees, saying the Parliament should also have a role in monitoring of pacts being signed with other countries. He was also of the view that trade officers should also have familiarity with the languages of those countries where they are being posted.
The secretary commerce said that 11 trade officers have been selected who will be posted by June this year. During discussion on performance of exports, Director General (Trade Policy) Commerce Ministry, Dr Safdar Sohail hinted that Pakistan's trade deficit would touch historical level due to import of power plants machinery under the CPEC. He said the Commerce Ministry is also going for mid-term review of STPF 2015-18 and in this regard recommendations from all the stakeholders are being sought. He said the Commerce Ministry would announce another incentives package for the exporters as till that time Rs 6 billion will also be available to Commerce Ministry.
Commerce Secretary Azmat Ali Ranjha said that Commerce Ministry is also investigating under invoicing in exports which, as this, was detected in a study conducted by Dr Safdar Sohail. The commerce secretary claimed that under invoicing of $ 2 billion in exports has been detected due to which the issue of current account has worsened.
Senator Ilyas Bilour was surprised to hear about under invoicing in exports. "We were used to hear about under invoicing in imports. Under invoicing in exports is a new phenomenon for me," he said. Senator Shibli Faraz said that in the past the successive governments focused on textile sector and ignored other sectors. He proposed a think tank or task force should be constituted to prepare implementable policy for economic development, so that focus should be given on all sectors instead of only textile.
The secretary Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) informed the committee that exporters from Karachi are now investing in Pakistan Stock Exchange and real estate business instead of expanding their export base. The chairman committee expressed his concern over establishment of new colonies on agriculture land across Pakistan. The committee directed Board of Investment (BoI) to organise a conference to attract those Pakistanis who left the country at the time of partition and established businesses in other countries.
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