Senate's Standing Committee on Finance on Thursday expressed serious concern over the decline in savings and investment and stated that the country's economic condition had gone from bad to worse over the past four years. The Finance Ministry was criticised during a briefing to the committee on its performance. The Chairperson of the committee remarked that the country's economy was never in such a bad shape.
The senators also stated that the economic team had failed to comply with State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) rules that required the government to reduce its borrowing from the central bank. High inflation and low returns were discouraging savings, critical for investment, members of the committee said.
Senator Usman Khan and Senator Hamayun Khan Mandokhel deplored that the government policies had not been responsive to challenges and the Finance Ministry had been unable to devise realistic ones. Senator Usman Khan said that the government heavily relied on bank borrowings to bridge the yawning gap between revenue and expenditure, instead of controlling expenditure and mobilising revenue. He stated that heavy government borrowings of up to 80 percent from banks was crowding out the private sector. The senate committee was also annoyed over the absence of the finance minister and secretary finance.
Senators Hamayun Khan Mandokhel and Ilyas Balour also spoke on the occassion. The committee's chairperson Nasreen Jalil said that this should be conveyed to the Minister that the committee had taken serious notice of his absence. Adviser to the Finance Ministry Rana Asad Amin informed the committee that the Minister and Secretary Finance could not attend the meeting because of an engagement at the Presidency.
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