Budget discourages black economy, promote documentation

Lahore: The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Sunday said government must change culture of the institutions to get budget targets.Pakistan need enlightened and responsible civil service to reduce budget deficit and inflation and enhance revenue collection, it said.

Deteriorating institutions and venal bureaucracy is the biggest hurdle in broadening the tax base, said Chairman of the PEW Sheikh Naseer ul Haq. Budget focuses on reducing the fiscal deficit from 5% to 4.3% of the GDP; raising the tax revenues by 17.46% from Rs 2,910,180 million to Rs 3,418,221 million from the last to current financial year.

The ratio of direct to indirect taxes is also being improved slightly from 42%:58% to 43%:57% between the two financial years which must be lauded. He said that there is nothing regarding effective monitoring of the critical institutions in the budget which has disappointed many.

Sheikh Naseerul Haq said that Government has initiated many revolutionary projects but it lacks good managers which can put the projects in doldrums. He said that Pak-China economic corridor is a great project which will not only support sixteen local industries in a big way but also boost individual and government earnings.

He said that budget is to promote the documented economy and discourage undocumented economy which is gaining momentum.

The Chairman of PEW said that differences over Kalabagh dam and failure of the governments to find an alternative site is a big reason behind ballooning circular debt.