Changes in the positions of the head of a regulatory body can be a positive indication of a government recognising a flaw in leadership and trying to rectify it. However, when the leadership is subject to consistent changes, it reflects an institutional weakness and a need for the government to implement serious reforms.Changes in the positions of the head of a regulatory body can be a positive indication of a government recognising a flaw in leadership and trying to rectify it. However, when the leadership is subject to consistent changes, it reflects an institutional weakness and a need for the government to implement serious reforms.
It has been speculated that the Prime Minister Secretariat is not happy with the performance of FBR’s top management, particularly over the slow pace of reforms. It is true that digitisation and simplification are not happening at the rate the government wants. The Prime Minister has a big vision for tax collection, and though the FBR was performing better than previous years, structural problems and the prevalence of tax evasion still plagued its management. Former chairman Asim Ahmed’s slack response to the recent cyberattacks on taxpayers’ data is said to be the main reason for his removal. Along with him, the PM’s aide Waqar Masood has also been shown the door because he was unable to keep up with Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin’s tax reforms agenda.
This is not the first time Mr Khan has abruptly changed his economic management team. A few months back, he had unceremoniously fired his finance minister Hafeez Sheikh and brought in Hammad Azhar, who lasted only a few days. Then Mr Tarin was drafted in to manage the nation’s tenuous finances. Asad Umar, the premier’s first choice as finance minister, was dismissed in a similar manner to Mr Sheikh, bowing out before he could sign the agreement with IMF and present his first full budget. The bureaucratic reshuffles in the government’s economic management team have been even more frequent.
The shake-ups in the economic team signify two important crises facing the government from day one. At one level these frequent, overnight changes are a sign of the PTI leadership’s indecisiveness as to which direction the economy should take. If Mr Umar lost his job while struggling to balance the IMF’s economic stabilisation demands with his growth strategy as indicated in the two finance bills he had introduced in parliament, his successor was punished for doing what he was brought in to do — that is, implement the IMF’s harsh economic stabilisation policies. Now Mr Tarin has been tasked with rapidly growing the economy, overturning his predecessor’s policies, ahead of the 2023 elections. How long he will last is anyone’s guess.
Shafaqna Pakistan
pakistan.shafaqna.com
