KARACHI: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah on Monday lashed out at the government for failing to accomplish real economic goals.

Mr Shah was highly critical of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for holding back Rs300 billion of exporters’ refund claims, resulting in slow industrial growth.

Addressing a well-attended meeting by industry leaders at the Federation House, he shared bitter facts about the fudged figures and poor performance of the economy.

In response to a point raised by the president of FPCCI Zubair Tufail about huge outstanding refund amount held by the FBR, the opposition leader said he would try to give a fight over the issue.

He added that the amount may have already become part of the budget 2017-18, and therefore its payment may not be possible for the government before budget.

He advised the industry leaders to take up important issues – wherein the existing industry would be at a disadvantage against those industries coming up under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’s economic zones and getting tax holidays –with the government.

The opposition leader was highly critical of the government boasting of huge foreign exchange reserves of around $20 billion.

If the government has taken huge loans at high interest rate against bonds and loans from the IMF and World Bank, then what is the use of such reserves when the nation is burdened with loans, he questioned.

When the Pakistan Peoples Party left the government in 2013, exports touched a record level at $26bn but today trade deficit is at record high as exports have dropped to below $20bn. Even Bangladesh has exports of $36bn, Mr Shah added.

It is unfortunate that no research or plans are being discussed but rather unimportant matters are talked about on TV channels and in parliament where seats now matter more than anything else.

Citing an example, he said that according to a survey Rs100 billion would be needed to resolve Lahore’s water. When the same was put before the chief minister Punjab, the simple reply was that he would not like to put huge money in such a project whose results could not be visually seen, he claimed.

He also said that the LNG contract which was being made during PPP era had to be shelved because of Rs100bn corruption allegations.

“Fact is that billions of rupees could have been saved if that contract was allowed to work because of cheaper rates,” he added. The question now is who will take suo motu action against this government, he added.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2017