There are found two sets of economists in the world, with different approaches of their own to achieve the same objectives but sadly Shaukat Tareen is none of them as he is not an economist by education and training, he is an MBA that can manage businesses and banks but not a public economy. One type of economists are those who believe in high public spending as a tool to create more jobs, let more imports into the country to enhance the supply of goods, and thereby raise more revenues through excise and customs duties. With higher imports, local businesses flourish rapidly and more people get hired and the economy registers a higher growth. This is exactly what Ishak Dar and Shaukat Tareen believe in and tried to follow. They also believe that with the same amount of money in circulation (demand) but with higher imports (supply), the prices of commodities will go down. This approach can be a good policy when you have very big reserves and capital market access which is not the case with Pakistan.
The second set of economists believe in lesser spending but more private savings. They think the private savings will be lent out to the private businesses which then will invest them for an increase in production and more jobs. They would keep the import bill in balance, current account in check, and borrow less as their public spending is lower and need lesser foreign debt to finance imports. This is a difficult but sustainable path for the counties like ours but there is less growth and a lesser number of jobs in the first few years. It is a disciplined way of managing a weak economy. Hafiz Sheikh believes in this policy and just when he had done all the hard work, born all the abuse and business was picking up, growth had touched 4% and the current account was under control at zero, he got fired.
We are virtually in the hands of another Ishaq Dar now. This year, our current account deficit is going to be 12 billion USD, exactly as it was in MLN's penultimate year. With the increasing deficit, the dollar is now at 172 and the rupee would get even worse in the coming months and probably would touch 180 and will contribute to more inflation.
.
Imran Khan doesn't know much about economics and among a few of his shortcomings, he still relates the governing of the country to the Shukat Khanum hospital and managing a cricket team. Shaukat Tareen is a doner and had been on Shaukat Khanum hospital's board of directors. He has always advised Imran on Shukat Khanum,s finances and Imran was convinced of his know-how. He was always Imran's first choice for running the finance ministry but could not serve earlier as he was then under investigation with the NAB.
www.geo.tv
