The international monitory agencies' bashing appears to be no more on the agenda of the ruling coalition in the NWFP . Gone are the days when leaders of these parties were used to oppose seeking financial assistance from the international lending agencies.
Describing these as facilitators to impose globalization agenda on the Third World countries, political leadership representing the coalition promised to 'liberate the nation and economy' from the dictates of the World Bank and the IMF, if voted to power.
Now, the situation has changed. Ground realities are totally different than what the nation was made to believe before the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal was voted to power in the NWFP.
A cursory look at the one year performance of the NWFP government reflect a sharp contrast between the promised deeds and practical measures. Perhaps,it has realized that the cash-strapped province cannot sustain the development process without the financial help from the international donor agencies.
It also realises that zero interest rate loan extended by the World Bank for introducing wide ranging reforms in the provinc's public sector is to the benefit of the people of the province where poverty is as high as 43 per cent.
Hence, the province continues to be as dependent on foreign assistance under the MMA rule as it used to be in the past. No change at all. Rather, it went one step forward during the last one year, as far as the reliance on international donor agencies was concerned. Its working relationship with some of the multi-lateral and multinational lending agencies grew to new extents.
The provincial government's officials developed high quality skills and expertize to engage the lending agencies. The fact that the international lending institutions have not lost hope in making more investment in the NWFP directly through the provincial government - even after the one-year rule of the MMA - is quite encouraging for the people of the province and evident from the World Bank's recently made commitment to continue financing the NWFP's three-year Provincial Reforms Programme (PRP).
The PRP - a wide ranging agenda of reforms on the basis of which the military government in the province had qualified to get loan from the Bank under its Structural Adjustment Credit (SAC) programme - was keenly pursued by the MMA government.
The fulfilment of the World Bank's conditions concerning the SAC remained on top of the MMA government's agenda for the whole of 2003, as far as implementing civil, administrative and fiscal reforms were concerned.
In an effort to qualify for the second tranche, the provincial government strived, throughout 2003, to meet the benchmarks it was supposed to meet during the first year of the PRP's implementation.
The entire bureaucracy, at the provincial level, remained over-occupied to fulfil commitments in areas where reforms had to be undertaken in fulfilment of the SAC agreement. Achievement of a majority of the World Bank loan agreement's conditionalities has finally helped the NWFP to qualify for the second tranche of $90 million to continue implementing the three-year PRP in its second year of implementation.
While it reflects a change of heart on the part of the MMA leadership in terms of its position regarding the international monetary agencies, all the more it also reflects that the MMA performed to the satisfaction of the donor agencies for which credit goes to the provincial government.
Except for few grey areas where the provincial government's performance has been described as 'unsatisfactory' during the first year of the PRP's implementation, i.e., in the 2002-03 financial year, results of the PRP's implementation attracted an applause from the World Bank's local mission.
When the MMA took over, it was believed that the MMA would immediately give practical shape to its election slogans of introducing the Islamic Sharia, interest free economic and banking systems, an end to co-education and the so-called obscenity in the province.
Except for few cosmetic measures, the MMA did not take even a single concrete step towards the Islamization of the NWFP. After one year in power, at least, the economic course adopted proved the fears were wrong. Hence there is no cutbacks on the part of the international donor agencies, as far as extending financial support to the NWFP is concerned.On the contrary the World Bank is ready to provide more funds to help the province continue implementing the PRP in 2003-04 financial year and an additional Rs31 billion to help it execute phase-II of the Community Infrastructure Project (CIP).
The Asian Development Bank is also very much there to keep extending financial support to continue execution of its funded projects in the province.Similarly, the DEG, a German funding agency, obliged the provincial government's request to continue its equity partnership in the provincial public sector Bank of Khyber after showing intention in the early days of the MMA's rule in the NWFP, to dispose of its equity shares.
After experiencing hiccups in the early days of its rule in the province, when the WB and the DEG offered some real tough time, the provincial government managed to win their confidence by 'successfully' implementing whatever they asked for.
Even for securing the second tranche of the World Bank loan, the MMA government ignored the provincial assembly's unanimously adopted resolution seeking abolition of some of the provincial levies 'for having been declared un-Islamic' by the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII).
The abolition would have caused annual financial loss of Rs400 million - a step provincial government could hardly afford after already striving to improve its revenue base in the fulfilment of wide ranging conditions under the World Bank agreement.
Similarly, the MMA government's move to continue implementing the contract employment policy of the previous government, which aims at controlling the future liabilities on account of pension, continuation of ban on recruitment on permanent basis in the public sector entities, are among a host of policies it continued implementing.
As against its stated position on the mark-up/interest, the MMA did not hesitate to demand from the federal government to make water and power development authority to pay over Rs170 billion interest over and above Rs150 billion principle amount, the last government in the province had claimed against Wapda on account of the arrears of net hydel payment since 1973.
The ruling elite from within the clergy appeared to be as accommodative to donor agencies' demands as has been the case with any of the provincial governments in the past.
This fact was also acknowledged by the provincial finance minister Siraj-ul-Haq, who is also the provincial chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami. At a World Bank funded consultative workshop in Peshawar recently,Mr Haq said that the government could hardly do anything when it comes to spending the donors' money.
"We just send them the PC-I of the project for their approval and spend money in accordance with their policy," said Haq. The NWFP government's resolve to ensure smooth execution of the multinational donor agencies' funded projects is also confirmed from an official handout, dated January 19, 2003, which contained the account of discussion between the provincial Chief Minister, Akram Khan Durrani, and a visiting mission of the World Bank.
"The chief minister said that his government was all-out to accomplish the projects initiated by the international donors for development, welfare and prosperity of the people."
The people of the province have taken a sigh of relief after having experienced the MMA's rule for one year during which they have come to know that they, too, are no different from their predecessors who governed this province without much success.
