In a major development on the economic front, provinces have helped the federal government contain fiscal deficit at 0.9 percent of the GDP during the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The provinces, therefore, deserve a lot of praise for increasing the surplus to 0.4 percent of the GDP in the first quarter of 2022 from 0.1 percent of the GDP in the first quarter of the fiscal year, 2021, enabling the federal government to reduce fiscal deficit to 0.9 percent of the GDP from 1.2 percent of the last year.
This development, in my view, indicates an improved provinces-centre relationship. Such developments will surely contribute to efforts aimed at strengthening the federation. But our policymakers must not lose sight of the fact that a strong federation can only be the federation of strong federating units. In other words, no federation or centre can be strong in the presence of weak federating units.
Maroof Raza (Karachi)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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