950823

NA question hour

Afgan has a difficult

time answering

technical questions

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: In the National Assembly on Wednesday, the question hour was fixed for the Finance Ministry but the State Minister for Finance was not present and the questions were handled by the Minister for Special Education, Dr Sher Afgan and it was a tough time for him to adequately answer questions of technical nature like domestic liquidity, growth of GDP, inflation and its causes.

The minister admitted that he did not have the expertise to answer such questions and time and again asked the chairman, Syed Naveed Qamar to defer the question. Chairman Naveed Qamar got exasperated when he was repeatedly asked for deferring of the questions. This provided the Opposition ample opportunity to put the government on the mat.

In reply to a queation he informed the House that according to the final revised target, collection of revenues for the last fiscal year was Rs 225 billion whereas the actual collection stood at Rs 226.499 billion, higher by 0.7% but he could not adequately answer as to what was the original target in the budget for 1994-95 and why it was revised and why without the permission of the Parliament. He said that he would procure the required information as to how many times the target was revised but said that it is the prerogative of the government to revise the targete.

Mian Yaseen Khan Watto for the information of the minister said that the target was Rs 266 billion and it was twice revised and brought down to Rs 225 billion, a downward revision of Rs 40 billion.

He did not agree with another questioner that the revenue targets will be difficult to achieve because of law and order situation in Karachi where head offices of most of the 1600 limited companies are located. He said that only ten police stations of the city are distrubed areas while the rest of the city is functioning normally. The adverse effects on the collection of the revenue is a mere imagination of the questioner.

Mian Ejaz Shafi questioned the minister about the domestic liquidity growth of GDP, and he without any hesitation admitted that it was a technical question and requested for its deferment.

Asked about the terms and conditions laid down by the IMF for the current financial year, he said that some of the targets suggested by the IMF have not been accepted by the government because of the weak economy and the interest of the general public.

Responding to another question about the sale of GCP ghee at lower rates than the prevailing rates in the open market - a policy against the free market policy Dr. Sher Afgan said that the government is for the free market economy but in certain cases, keeping in view the problems of the common man, it has to subsidize products like ghee and the loss is absorbed by the government.

A member, Tariq Banday, said that the tight monetary policy being pursued by the government would lead to lack of availability of money leading to less industrial activity and ultimately to increase in inflation. The minister said that the government has to generate resources for development works as everybody is pressing for civic amenities which can only be provided with additional resources. We will have to make sacrifice for the cause of development, he added.

Acting on behalf of the Commerce Minister, Syed Khurshid Ahmad Shah said that the Afghan trade has not been stopped. Goods imported by Afghanistan and held back have since been released on the payment of duty as levied by the government on certain items. He said, the government had to impose restrictions on the import of certain items through the Afghan Transit Trade in order to protect the local industry. He said, the magnitude of the imports could be gauged from the fact that during 1992-1993 the transit trade accounted for $ 83 billion while it to rose to $ 214 billion in 1993-94 and a large number of items were not required in Afghanistan and hence smuggled into Pakistan.

When his attention was drawn to the trade with. ECO countries, he said that bilateral agreements had been reached with a number of ECO countries including the Central Asian countries.

During the ensuing discussion, the question of motorway also arose. A member asked as to who would be responsible for the enhanced cost of the motorway which was to be completed at a cost of Rs 25 billion and now it would cost Rs 37 billion. Syed Khurshid Ahmad said the cost would be Rs 33 billion but he did not take into consideration the delay in the completion of the project. He said, it was a fallacy that the motorway would extend to the ECO countries and said that even during the next 300 years it would be impossible to take it beyond Pakistan upto two hundred miles. He said that in the garb of the motorway the country was being looted and the government is prepared for a debate on the subject any time. Dr Sher Afgan, when asked about IMF targets, admitted that he did not have the exact competence to answer the question. However a written statement has been provided which is an under:

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT SHOWING THE FALL-OUT IN BUDGET,

1995-96 WITH THE IMF

IMF(Target) Budget 1995-96

(i) Growth rate of real GDP. 6.2% 6.5%

(ii) Reducing inflation rate (In 1994-95 13.0%) 9.5% 9.5%

(iii) Budget Deficit. 4.0% 5%

(iv) Domestic Liquidity Growth of GDP. 12.5% 12%

(v) Decline in domestic debt of GOP. 37% -

(vi) Trade Taxation. 50% 65%

(vii) Revenue Collections. 306 (b) 361.7 (b)

(viii) Bank borrowing for budgetary. 15.0 (b) 30.0 (b)

(IX) SAP Programme. 5.95 (b) 10.5 (b)

(upto March. 96) (upto June, 96)

(x) Appropriate adjustments in user charges Increases were made in

Gas, Electricty and

Petroleum.