By Anzal Amin
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said that the elements involved in the deep-rooted menace of corruption and criminal negligence for denting the national economy would be held accountable. Referring to the track and trace system agreement made in 2019, the prime minister said this system was nothing but a cruel joke to the nation as no improvement was seen in the sectors of tobacco, cement, sugar and fertilizer.
He said the agreement was totally a fraud as even no penalty clause was included in it. Chairing a meeting of the Cabinet at the PM House, he said that he had ordered to form an inquiry committee in this regard that will present its report within 72 hours.
As regards the macroeconomic indicators, the prime minister expressed satisfaction over the collective performance of both incumbent and the interim governments.
He said according to a recently published report on Pakistan economy, many indicators including IT export, remittances, capital market were showing positive results due to the prudent policies of the government. However, he maintained that lot of work needed to be done.
The government will perform ‘major surgical operation’ to get rid of the deep-rooted flaws in the country’s economy, he added. PM Shehbaz Sharif informed that he completed the power sector review in four phases in which important decisions were taken to minimize power theft and line losses, and to reduce prices of the electricity.
Besides, he said the government had also decided in principle to divest the Distribution Companies (DISCOs). He said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had old and obsolete systems which needed to be replaced to increase the tax to GDP ratio.
He pointed out that the FBR had the potential to earn extra revenues worth hundreds of billions of rupees by implementing reforms in its system. “We have to take tough decision in larger interest of the country and we will fully monitor the implementation phase,” the prime minister remarked. As regards, privatization of the State Owned Entities (SOEs), the prime minister assured that the process would be done without delay and in a transparent manner.
Earlier, The incumbent government has introduced changes in the Special Professional Pay Scales (SPPS) Policy under which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to devolve some of his authority to the ministries/divisions to ensure the swift hiring of talented professionals, according to the Establishment Division. In this regard, the Establishment Division has rebutted a news item published in a section of the press titled, “PM powers to make key appointments withdrawn by cabinet” calling it giving an “absolutely erroneous and misplaced” impression.
It explained that the SPPS Policy was introduced in 2019 by the then government to hire highly skilled/technical professionals on a need basis to fill the capacity gaps in the ministries/divisions. However, the said policy was not being effectively utilised as it was highly centralised and difficult to implement.
“The present government has made changes in the SPPS Policy with the aim that the Ministries/Divisions should fast track hiring of talented professionals. To meet this end, the prime minister decided to devolve some of his authority to the Ministries/Divisions concerned,” the document said. Therefore, it said that the impression given in the news item was “absolutely erroneous and misplaced.”
