The revised budget by the new government has many anticipating how it will fare in the coming years. The taxation is quite progressive and it highlights that the young government is quite confident in it. As several experts have pointed out, these changes were due for a long time but the timing itself is quite crucial. The government has also alleged gross misquotation of the spending by the previous government. Such allegations shake the foundations of the economic progress the country was aiming to achieve in the official reports.
While there were several positives, the budget contained inexplicable, and prima facie counterproductive, changes too. There is quite a disagreement regarding the uplifting of the ban on non-filers being able to buy property and cars. The concern put forth by former Finance Minister Miftah Ismael that the policy was able to bring several in the tax net is legitimate. Had the policy been allowed to expand for a few years, the local tax net was expected to show an upward mobility. The reversal of the policy based on foreign investment is an ambitious policy. The former policy strengthened the local tax net; the latter strengthens foreign investment due to the low foreign reserves. As of this moment, that remains an assertion only
The response from businesses and industry is positive after the incentive offered by the government. This was going to be one of the most difficult challenges for the government. The previous revisions have been met with criticism but quite contrary to anticipation, these two sectors consider the revisions moderate. With the businesses and industry on the side, the government has the confidence to implement the policies.
The question, however, remains. The policies are ambitious and have pointed the direction of the economy in an opposite direction but are these significant changes going to create an impact that the economy will recover? The government needs to provide an estimate of the margin it will attain in terms of state revenue by the implementation of these economic reforms. As economists have already pointed out, these reforms are fifteen to thirty years late, the recovery from such a miserable economic state will be nothing short of difficult.
The opposition has also shown a better response to the revised budget. Credit was given where it was due and after quite some time, both the sides allowed the space to maintain quorum. With a new economic policy in place, the government must clarify all opposing concerns.