NA supports China's efforts

The incarcerated former minister for planning and development of opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday said that despite passage of 18 months, the PM's adviser on finance has no clue about the economic issues confronting the country.

Taking part in a debate on a motion pertaining to economic condition of the country in the National Assembly, he said that the only thing which the government knew was: "looting the country with both hands".

"There is skyrocketing inflation, poverty, joblessness in the country due to flawed policies of the government, but they've no idea how to steer the country out of these crisis," Iqbal regretted.

He made the remarks a day after Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh defended the financial policies of the incumbent government in the lower house, saying that the economy and exchange rate were stabilizing as a result of tough decisions.

"I also want to go to the Pakistan whose rosy picture was painted by the finance adviser yesterday. The Pakistan where there is no inflation, where there are jobs and jobs everywhere including those seeking employment in the country, and where rivers of milk and honey are flowing," he chided the PM's adviser on economy for he said "misleading" the masses.

"The government has indulged into politics of vendetta...both small and big investors are shifting their money abroad. Environment is not conducive to retain skilled manpower and control brain drain from the country," Iqbal lamented.

He also criticized the government for the delay in deciding whether it should go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout, due to which it had to start negations on a weak footing and it ultimately resulted in further damaging an already fragile economy.

"When the government was holding talks with the IMF, it literally bowed down before its negotiating team and could not do anything significant to safeguard national interest. The IMF programme, the government has agreed to the weakest programme in national history," Iqbal declared.

The PML-N leader also came down hard on the government for opening "shelter homes" to feed the poor, saying the ruling PTI believes as if 200 million people live in a village and can be fed through a couple of "langars" and "tandoors".

"These people [PTI] left no stone unturned in criticising us and now the same people are expecting us to go slow on them despite all the mess they've created, which is not possible," he added.

Iqbal said that the government must stop making hue and cry over the current account deficit, as they need to know that the current account deficit had gone up due to the large amount of investment we had put into development projects, especially in the energy sector.

"What they failed to understand is that once these projects were completed, the deficit would also have come down and rationalised," he added.

Minister for National Food Security Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, who took the floor after Iqbal, lamented that the government was facing troubles due to low revenue.

He said that currently, there were five million bank accounts in the country but only 0.5m were in the tax net.

"We need to take a moment and think across party lines on how we will run this country when the volume of debt is at 78 per cent. We will have to pay interest and a principle amount on it."

"How will this country be run, even if we earn five trillion with a 12pc tax to GDP ratio? The federal government will then have to give around three trillion to the provinces. So the federal government already starts at a deficit," Bakhtiar said.

He insisted that every government would face the same challenges as the incumbent. The federal minister said the share of investment by the private sector in Pakistan's economy was a mere nine percent because banks did not have the money to provide loans.

"We need to develop a mindset in this country that investors need to be respected...the tragedy of this country is that we keep changing policies. First, we implemented a nationalisation policy, and then we privatised all the banks," Bakhtiar added.

"What are the banks doing...? Right now, banks are providing money to the government, or to the main sectors such as fertiliser, sugar, cement, on the most favourable interest rates. But the small sector, that of small and medium enterprises (SME), are merely getting six percent of credit - in 2000, they would get 17-18pc of total credit," he said.

Bakhtiar said that there was a need to develop a national development finance institution, through which, the money could automatically follow into the SMEs and other new sectors, adding the parliament should unite and draw up a "National Economic Charter" instead of doing politics over the economy.

Meanwhile, during question hour, States and Frontier Regions (Safron) State Minister Shehryar Afridi said that the government had launched "Zindagi App" to create awareness among youth with regards to the hazardous effects of synthetic drug penetration.

He said that interactive sessions were also being arranged with all the schools and educational institutes regarding the "Zindagi App", adding the youth was the future of the country so the parents and teachers should have to educate them about dangerous effects of drugs on their lives.

The House was told that the registration process of seminaries would start in the first week of March. To a question, Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood said that so far, no seminary had been registered/affiliated with the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training.

However, he said that the Directorate General of Religious Education has been established along with its 16 regional offices and staff has been posted from National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) on attachment basis.

Mahmood said that registration form, agreed by the Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training and the Ittehad Tanzeemul Madaris Pakistan (ITMP), has been printed by the Printing Corporation of Pakistan on January 20, 2020.

To another question about the real causes of the declining educational system particularly with reference to the declining passing percentage of the Central Superior Service (CSS), Mahmood said that no empirical study/evidence suggested that the consistent decline in pass percentage of the CSS exam was related to outdated higher education sector of the county.

RESOLUTION

The House unanimously passed a resolution, extending its full support in solidarity with the government and people of China for their dedicated efforts and efficient policies to combat coronavirus.

The resolution moved by Khawaja Asif moved commended the efforts of the Chinese government under the leadership of President Xi Jinping for treating Pakistani citizens especially students in Wuhan just like their own by providing them with the best possible care.

"Wishes to appreciate the way in which China is dealing with extremely tense situation under President Jinping to combat and fully eliminate coronavirus. Pakistan stands united with their Chinese brethren in this difficult time and moment of medical emergency and extends its full support to them in this difficult time," it added.