Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Wednesday said that all speculations regarding the upcoming general elections have been addressed, which would “translate into economic stability”.
“On 11th January, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board approved our second tranche, and all those speculations regarding the elections have been addressed. Everyone is certain about the election date i.e. 8th February,” said Kakar in an interview to CNBC, on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF).
“I think so, that [general elections] is going to lead towards a stable government, which would translate into economic stability,” he said. “I do see and project that probably there wouldn’t be a great growth rate in Pakistan, but there would be a sense of stability. It would be slow but sustainable,” he added.
The remarks come in response to concerns raised by the World Bank, which warned that heightened political uncertainty in Pakistan could slow down growth in the private sector.
“Weak confidence stemming from political turmoil will contribute to the slow growth in private demand,” said the World Bank in its latest publication ‘Global Economic Prospects — January 2024’ released last week.
On addressing economic issues, Kakar during the interview said that the economic revival has remained a top priority of the interim setup.
“It was our top priority to bring the economic revival and focus on the growth and rest of the economic indicators,” he said.
“For the next government, if there has to be a guiding principle is to earn more and spend less,” he said.
The caretaker PM said that there needs to be a “thorough rationalization” of government spending. “On the revenue generation, we need to revamp our taxation system, it is badly redundant. We need to increase documentation of the economy, and transform our state towards a more viable economic entity,” he added.
Talking about the interim government measures, the caretaker PM said that his government has introduced a revamped programme within the taxation system. “We have brought structural changes to that, which would pass through the cabinet, probably by the end of this month. It would be in place as policy,” he added.
The interim prime minister added that the government has gone on an aggressive investment spree, has cut federal-level expenditures, and is in talks with provinces to rationalize their spending.