Adnan Faruqi
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UKs DFID set to halt £7m grant to Pakistan
United Kingdoms Department for International Development (DFID) is all set to refuse 7 million pound grants for Pakistans economy owing to failure of PPP led regime for implementing agreed reforms in last one year, The News has learnt reliably.
But the top bosses of the Gilanis economic team is of the view that the government will return back this money to the DFID because red tapism and bureaucratic hurdles created stumbling blocks in the way of implementing envisaged reform agenda within the envisaged deadline.
Except disbursing nominal amount of around 20,000 pounds for designing of Growth Strategy published by Planning Commission in last one year, the UK based DFID did not release a penny of this grant which shows seriousness of this PPP led regime, official sources confirmed while talking to The News.
When contacted to the DFID high-up, Haroon Sharif, Head Economic Growth Group, said that they would conduct one year review of this grant in next few weeks that would determine the exact fate of this programme grant meant for pursuing reforms for this countrys economy.
However, the sources said that the DFIDs grant of 7 million pounds was conditioned to put in place action plan of implementing growth strategy that was approved by the National Economic Council (NEC) under chairmanship of Prime Minister Gilani but the government failed to fulfil its commitment within the envisaged deadline. This action plan was meant to do away subsidies in different sectors of the economy as well as implementing civil service reforms.
The second condition of the grant money was implementing restructuring plan for Planning Commission of Pakistan. But the donors are saying that although the government has appointed Asif Bajwa as Secretary Planning Division but this division remained without any Secretary for several months as Javed Mehmood remained on leave most of the period during his stay at this position and finally Bajwa was appointed at this slot.
The third condition was establishing a Growth Centre but the DFID is of the view that it will not give grant money if the government implements one condition out of three to four major reform plans.
The UNDP was also involved for establishing this Growth Centre but there were serious objections raised by the top bureaucrats over it and it was not yet clear how the government wanted to move ahead on this regard.
Federal Minister for Finance Dr Hafeez Shaikh is going to chair a high-level meeting in near future to decide about the fate of Growth Centre for which Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Nadeemul Haq was extending all out support on the pretext that out of box thinking was imperative outside the clutches of government to reform the struggling economy of Pakistan.
The donors, the sources said, also raised the issue of inclusion of provinces in the growth strategy in the aftermath of 18th Constitutional Amendment, bringing poverty reduction target as mainstay of growth strategy and setting implementation priorities over short and medium term basis.
However, the official sources said that the NEC authorized the Planning Commission to come up with implementation plan on approved Growth Strategy within four months period but the PC failed to do so.
The official said that the country was plunging into stagflation with lower growth and higher inflation and the incumbent regime did not have fiscal space to jumpstart the dwindling growth. Who has barred us from bringing desired changes on policy side, they questioned?
Among other key reforms envisaged in the Growth Strategy devised by the Planning Commission, its main architect Deputy Chairman Planning Commission first time openly unveiled the importance of bringing reforms in civil service of the country. Although, the government moved on monetization of cars for grade 20 and above but this step has not fully convinced the donors about the seriousness of the government for monetizing other perks including housing facility.
The approved strategy for Growth by NEC states perks to BS-20 and above alone cost the government Rs4.7 billion annually. Add to this the administrative expense and the figure will easily reach Rs6 billion. If these perks monetized, the cash pay will increase significantly but cost to government will reduce from Rs6 billion to Rs3.1 billion on annual basis.
UK
United Kingdoms Department for International Development (DFID) is all set to refuse 7 million pound grants for Pakistans economy owing to failure of PPP led regime for implementing agreed reforms in last one year, The News has learnt reliably.
But the top bosses of the Gilanis economic team is of the view that the government will return back this money to the DFID because red tapism and bureaucratic hurdles created stumbling blocks in the way of implementing envisaged reform agenda within the envisaged deadline.
Except disbursing nominal amount of around 20,000 pounds for designing of Growth Strategy published by Planning Commission in last one year, the UK based DFID did not release a penny of this grant which shows seriousness of this PPP led regime, official sources confirmed while talking to The News.
When contacted to the DFID high-up, Haroon Sharif, Head Economic Growth Group, said that they would conduct one year review of this grant in next few weeks that would determine the exact fate of this programme grant meant for pursuing reforms for this countrys economy.
However, the sources said that the DFIDs grant of 7 million pounds was conditioned to put in place action plan of implementing growth strategy that was approved by the National Economic Council (NEC) under chairmanship of Prime Minister Gilani but the government failed to fulfil its commitment within the envisaged deadline. This action plan was meant to do away subsidies in different sectors of the economy as well as implementing civil service reforms.
The second condition of the grant money was implementing restructuring plan for Planning Commission of Pakistan. But the donors are saying that although the government has appointed Asif Bajwa as Secretary Planning Division but this division remained without any Secretary for several months as Javed Mehmood remained on leave most of the period during his stay at this position and finally Bajwa was appointed at this slot.
The third condition was establishing a Growth Centre but the DFID is of the view that it will not give grant money if the government implements one condition out of three to four major reform plans.
The UNDP was also involved for establishing this Growth Centre but there were serious objections raised by the top bureaucrats over it and it was not yet clear how the government wanted to move ahead on this regard.
Federal Minister for Finance Dr Hafeez Shaikh is going to chair a high-level meeting in near future to decide about the fate of Growth Centre for which Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Nadeemul Haq was extending all out support on the pretext that out of box thinking was imperative outside the clutches of government to reform the struggling economy of Pakistan.
The donors, the sources said, also raised the issue of inclusion of provinces in the growth strategy in the aftermath of 18th Constitutional Amendment, bringing poverty reduction target as mainstay of growth strategy and setting implementation priorities over short and medium term basis.
However, the official sources said that the NEC authorized the Planning Commission to come up with implementation plan on approved Growth Strategy within four months period but the PC failed to do so.
The official said that the country was plunging into stagflation with lower growth and higher inflation and the incumbent regime did not have fiscal space to jumpstart the dwindling growth. Who has barred us from bringing desired changes on policy side, they questioned?
Among other key reforms envisaged in the Growth Strategy devised by the Planning Commission, its main architect Deputy Chairman Planning Commission first time openly unveiled the importance of bringing reforms in civil service of the country. Although, the government moved on monetization of cars for grade 20 and above but this step has not fully convinced the donors about the seriousness of the government for monetizing other perks including housing facility.
The approved strategy for Growth by NEC states perks to BS-20 and above alone cost the government Rs4.7 billion annually. Add to this the administrative expense and the figure will easily reach Rs6 billion. If these perks monetized, the cash pay will increase significantly but cost to government will reduce from Rs6 billion to Rs3.1 billion on annual basis.
UK
