INP
ISLAMABAD
The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Sunday expressed concern over slow pace of reforms which has left government with little options of seeking costly loans and burdening existing taxpayers. The improvement in economic indicators has little to do with reforms and more to do with IMF loans, bond issues and receding oil prices, said Dr Murtaza Mughal, President PEW.
He said that government has not shown any notable progress in reducing budget deficit, broaden tax net, improve energy sector, autonomy to central bank, and taking loans from banks within limits and restructure bleeding state-run corporations.
Dr Murtaza Mughal said that government continue to ignore reforming FBR and burden existing taxpayers which will not serve its purpose of improve revenue, rather, it would increase tax evasion. He lashed out at getting costly loans to repay that acquired earlier terming it a trap as already taken loans are equal to 67 percent of the GDP.
He asked economic managers to stop implementing short-term measures as the results of these steps would be harmful for the economy in the long run.
Dr Mughal said that costly and non-transparent projects like Nandipur, Solar Park and import of LNG will not resolve energy crisis but worsen it which will make life of the masses a living hell.