Sattar underscores need for paradigm shift to improve economic prospects

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Sunday underlined the need for a paradigm shift in policy to save the country from an impending economic disaster that poses serious threat to its sovereignty. Dr Farooq Sattar, who presented shadow federal budget for 2012-13, said that the country's economy "is at brink of disaster with working class being completely marginalized from the development process".
He said that continuous degradation in the economy was posing a serious threat to the coutry's sovereignty and security, adding that his party had decided to unveil its shadow federal budget with a view to deal with prevailing economic problems.
Dr Sattar said that the current situation demanded provision of immediate relief to the common man on account of inflation, rising poverty and persistent power cuts.
Terming a stable economy critical for preserving the country's political sovereignty, the MQM leader said that out of box policy-making solutions were needed to rescue the country from meeting fatal consequences owing to grave economic situation. The shadow budget being presented by the MQM was a roadmap for moving from "yesterday to tomorrow for a safe and secure Pakistan with equal opportunities to all".
The current state of the economy, with a dismal growth of 2 percent, has been the major problem for the country. He said that MQM's shadow budget proposed workable measures while keeping in view global factors such as oil prices, dollar parity, extremism and regional powers, for reviving the national economy.
Farooq Sattar said that ultimate outcome of implementation of MQM's proposals would help eradicate poverty, improve sustenance level for common man by bringing down inflation following a reduction in taxes and duties as well as fiscal deficit by exploring untapped resources and slashing civilian and military expenditures.
He said that the paradigm shift in setting out priorities from the next fiscal year would help moving towards inclusive critical for economic sustainability. Reducing the cost of doing business, improving export competitiveness could increase the momentum of growth, he said. Reducing taxes and duties, he said, could bring down the cost of doing business.
Dr Sattar said that his party had also proposed incentives for investment, industrialisation and growth for employment generation. He said that providing special support for food and energy sectors would be his party's top most priority.
The MQM also stated that after coming into power, the party would bring fiscal and monetary polices in alignment with each other.
He said that his party would be soliciting policy inputs to reinforce measures in the shadow budget during 2012-13 for implementation of market mechanism in agriculture sector with abolition of support price as well as with respect to maximum land holding. He also presented a 10-point finance bill on behalf of the party.