Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed all members of economic team to come up with out of the box ideas to further move the wheels of economy after holding preliminary discussions with key stakeholders. He gave these instructions to his economic team, a couple of days prior to visit of International Monetary Fund (IMF) team to Islamabad.
The prime minister, under immense pressure from political opponents and general public for his government's failure to improve the country's economy, routinely holds meetings with his economic team and the country's top businessmen to steer the country out of economic crisis. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) which is now headed by a renowned chartered accountant Shabbar Zaidi, has also failed to perform as per expectations of the prime minister with respect to achieving the revenue target set in the federal budget and as per agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
"All members of the economic team to come with the ideas/proposals/measures with the capacity to move economy on the growth trajectory," sources quoted the prime minister as saying. He has directed Dr Atta-ur-Rehman, a renowned scientist to hold a meeting with Chairman FBR, Shabbar Zaidi, and present his proposals on using IT for tax collections.
According to sources, the prime minister stated that deliverables against economic roadmaps submitted by Ministries/Divisions should be further refined and made more measurable. He further said that it must be ensured that the roadmap captures all important/major tasks required to be performed.
He has directed Aviation Division to immediately complete exercise about outsourcing of airports.
According to sources, the Saudi delegation which visited Pakistan a couple of months ago had expressed an interest in acquiring airports but their proposal was not entertained due to strong opposition by the Ministry of Defence.
The longstanding issue of revival plan of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) also came under discussion in the economic team's meeting. The prime minister directed Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries and Production and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood to present PSM revival plan in the next economic team meeting.
Dawood has already discussed the PSM revival plan with different stakeholders, which is still incomplete. However, the Privatisation Commission is expected to finalise the name of a firm which will provide advisory services for the revival of PSM. At least, four international firms have already expressed their intention to revive the reined entity.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM), Dr Sania Nishtar has been directed to discuss the idea of ongoing subsistence farming and agriculture value chain policy with stakeholders. She has been given two weeks to prepare the proposal.
Governor State Bank (SBP), Dr Reza Baqar has been directed to finalise proposals for revival of sick industrial units and submit it to the economic team.
Presently, hundreds of units are closed due to different issues including economic policies of different governments and taxation measures taken by the successive governments.
Chairman Federal Board of Revenue, Advisor on Commerce, Textile, Industries and Production and Investment, and Advisor on Finance, Dr Hafeez Shaikh would evaluate the possibility of tax free import of health equipment and present the final proposal in the next meeting of the economic team.
Attorney General of Pakistan has been given one week to submit action plan to expedite disposal of FBR cases. Policies on leather and textile sectors will be presented to the prime minister on October 10, 2019 to be submitted by Abdul Razak Dawood.
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