"Mazi Mein Ju Hota Raha Mein Usko...", Ali Pervaiz Malik's analysis on Budget 2024-25

3 months ago

#khabar #budget2024 #pakistaneconomycrisis #meherbukhari

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Transcript

00:00Supplementary grants are wrong. You misuse it.

00:07Between May 2023 and May 2024, you justified the additional expenditures through supplementary grants on behalf of three governments.

00:15Two of the three governments were yours.

00:17Not only did you misuse Ayni Shikha, but also Parliament, Rai Ama.

00:20Not everyone was brought into the picture.

00:22Water sector, water division, defense, civil armed services, agencies, budget.

00:27All of these were more than what was allocated.

00:29Or for non-budgetary expenses and measures.

00:32We saw a significant difference in getting all the resources.

00:36There are many of these expenditures, Ali Parvez sahib.

00:38For which the government had asked for a pre-parliamentary approval.

00:41And there was no status of emergency.

00:44Or there was nothing to do with the chaos.

00:47If you do allow me.

00:48When the actual budget was approved, there was security of CPEC.

00:51There were other benefits of military pensions and retirement.

00:54There were additional funds.

00:55There was Green Corporate Initiative of Musalla Pach.

00:58There was flood of Pak-Iran border.

01:00There were K-Electric and public power generation plants.

01:03All of these were not emergency needs at that time.

01:06A lot of these expenditures, sir, you could have foreseen.

01:09And you should have, in fact.

01:12So, Mehr, in this budget, that is exactly what we have tried to do.

01:17Before passing of the budget.

01:19So, if you appreciate one thing.

01:21That they have tried to sharpen and focus it more.

01:24And what happened in the past.

01:26I can't change it today.

01:29But on behalf of this government, I assure you.

01:32That there is a clear direction from Mr. Shahbaz Sharif.

01:35Minimal supplementary grants and minimal technical supplementary grants.

01:40And this kind of expectation is with us from our development partners.

01:45So, we will try to bring in better financial management.

01:48And better governance.

01:49So that this kind of embarrassment.

01:51This kind of supplementary grants and reallocation can be avoided.

01:55And going forward, that will be a priority area for the government.

01:58Sir, that is very much the need of the hour.

02:01Because parliament has approved 4 trillion in supplementary grants.

02:06Which is approximately 400% more than the previous amount, sir.

02:0986% of these expenditures were utilized in the last 45 days in your PDM government.

02:14You started using them in 45 days.

02:17And your slogan was that we have come to save the state, not politics.

02:21Very much politics was being saved, sir.

02:23This state was not being saved.

02:25See, in that, Mehar, the reallocations that have happened to you.

02:30Each reallocation needs to be assessed.

02:34And after that, I can answer your sarcastic observation.

02:38But the fact of the matter is,

02:40Before the vote of no confidence, Mr. Imran Khan had adopted a path.

02:45In which you were selling petrol at a price which was less than the price at which Saudi Arabia was selling diesel.

02:52If you had followed that path,

02:54Considering that you have a requirement of 100 billion dollars in financing and refinancing over the next couple of years.

03:02If you had followed that path,

03:04So believe me, if you ask any student of any industry,

03:08He would tell you that the default was written on the wall.

03:11So you avoided that thing.

03:13After that, the most difficult decisions, whether they are in the petrol price revision,

03:17Whether your reforms that you took in different departments,

03:21Those should be taken by the PDM government.

03:23And after that, even today,

03:25The stability that you see,

03:27In which inflation has fallen from 40% to 12%.

03:30Currency is stable.

03:33Sir, it started from 13% when foreign investors came to you.

03:37This is only a reflection.

03:39Mr. Ali, in the last government of Mr. Shabaz Sharif,

03:42While there was a privatisation ordinance,

03:44In which transparency was being ensured,

03:461.7 billion dollars were raised.

03:50Still, you made a sovereign fund.

03:52Now IMF is demanding that this fund be abolished.

03:55Sovereign wealth fund.

03:57Now your government is banking on it.

03:59What is your strategy now?

04:02See, Mehar, to bring in foreign investment,

04:06You have a sovereign fund.

04:08It is not the only channel that is available.

04:11You can take all these companies through privatisation mode.

04:15So this was just a mechanism,

04:18Which was made last time to speed up this process.

04:21If you look at it,

04:23The 6-7 companies that are parked,

04:26It has OGDCL, PPL,

04:28And the government's shareholdings that you wanted to liquidate,

04:31You wanted to give to foreign investors.

04:33This channel was provided for that.

04:37Now if IMF has any concerns on this channel,

04:40We will try to address.

04:42But as far as I know,

04:44No final direction or agreement has been made on this.

04:48Even if it happens,

04:50You can easily take these investments,

04:52And offer these to the foreign investors in a privatisation mode.

04:56So there is nothing to worry about.

04:58God willing, the partnership with IMF is on track.

05:03And soon you will hear good news,

05:05Which is extremely essential to anchor the stability,

05:08Which you can see right now.

05:10And when we anchor this,

05:12After that, you will see the government changing its gear.

05:15And you will see widespread reforms in all economic ministries,

05:20In all economic divisions.

05:22Which will put Pakistan on a path of more inclusive and sustainable growth.

05:31Ali, I really do hope so.

05:33But as you were adamant about privatisation,

05:36And made a sovereign fund,

05:38There was no need for it.

05:39Similarly, even with the Board of Investments,

05:41There was no need for another division, SIFC.

05:43That could have been incorporated within it.

05:45Now the problem is that you have to cut expenditures,

05:48There are overlapping inefficiencies,

05:50The federal government is planning to shut down 5 more markets.

05:53The Prime Minister is saying that he will personally oversee this process,

05:56Downsizing, rightsizing.

05:57But if I remember correctly,

05:59You had received a recommendation from the Austerity Committee,

06:02That 70,000 workers should be abolished.

06:05But you have decided to fill up all vacant posts from Grade 1 to 16.

06:12Is this austerity?

06:15Look, austerity and rightsizing exercise,

06:19These are two parallel activities that are happening.

06:22Now in rightsizing,

06:23The 5 ministries that you spoke about,

06:26Which have been spotlighted,

06:29Let me explain that first.

06:31Look, in all these divisions,

06:34There is a lot of overlap.

06:36If you look at your federal legislative list,

06:39And if you look at the responsibilities of the provinces,

06:42There is a lot of overlap after the 18th amendment.

06:45So this exercise will be carried out through a filtration process.

06:50And whatever extra layers of fat are in your governance,

06:55They will be proposed to either shut down,

06:58Or to be devolved to the provinces.

07:01Or if they have to be retained,

07:03Then they will have to be defended.

07:05So all these things that you have to run over all the divisions,

07:09In the first tranche,

07:11To keep it bite-sized,

07:13You have started with 5 ministries.

07:15And this will not only be restricted to those divisions,

07:18But also to all the companies that report these divisions.

07:23You know if you talk about the Ministry of Industries,

07:26It has a Fertilizer Corporation,

07:28I don't know, a Furniture Company,

07:30And a lot of other things.

07:31So all these things will be reviewed.

07:33And the unnecessary things that you see,

07:36In modern day management,

07:38And modern day corporate governance structures,

07:40They will be shut down.

07:42And after looking after the human element,

07:45In these organizations,

07:47How you have to manage them,

07:49That is another exercise.

07:51That is another exercise that you will see happening.

07:55Austerity is something else.

07:57In Austerity,

07:58The fresh capital purchases that you have to make,

08:01Through a filtration process,

08:03There will be a discussion on it.

08:06And after that, it will be allowed.

08:08So it is in its place.

08:10And where you have to populate,

08:12The jobs,

08:13The unfilled,

08:14Your sanctioned posts,

08:16To hire people on them,

08:18I will request you,

08:20I don't think there has been any final decision on this.

08:22I have also seen this report of Mr. Shabaz Rana.

08:25But in it,

08:26One thing I will request you is that,

08:28Maybe the clerical positions,

08:30You can populate them through your redundancies,

08:33And these surplus divisions,

08:35And these extra divisions,

08:36You can populate by shutting them down.

08:38But there are also critical technical positions,

08:41Like in Lesko,

08:43You need a lot of linemen,

08:45You need a lot of SDOs,

08:47Which are technical positions.

08:49So you can't meet them through your surplus pool.

08:51So if there is a critical requirement of this kind,

08:54If you need a pilot in PIA,

08:56So if you are free somewhere,

08:58You can't reallocate it there.

09:00So they will be passed through that sanity test,

09:04And the crucial positions,

09:06Only those will be populated.

09:08Because when this right-sizing exercise will go ahead,

09:11Then your lower-grade staff,

09:13They will be redundant in many places,

09:15And this surplus will be absorbed by these companies.

09:19So don't worry,

09:20There will be no attempt to add on any extra fat anywhere.

09:24And all these hirings will be done purely on merit,

09:27And on a unique basis.

"Mazi Mein Ju Hota Raha Mein Usko...", Ali Pervaiz Malik's analysis on Budget 2024-25

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