DISMISSING charges of misgovernance and blaming the centre for lower-than-pledged revenue transfers that forced a downward revision of the development outlay, the Rs851 billion Sindh budget for the remaining three quarters of the current fiscal year reflects the PPP’s intent to tread the beaten path.

The ruling party bulldozed all objections of the opposition to curtail recurring expenditure. Keeping the tough economic situation in view, the Sindh government did make minor adjustments to contain spending.

The axe fell on the block Rs50 billion set aside for new development schemes. This allocation was chopped by Rs29 billion, leaving a paltry Rs21bn for new schemes to be initiated this fiscal.

Proposals of just 13 departments were entertained as 25 new schemes in water, health and education have been approved. The schemes of the remaining 31 departments were deferred for next year. This was over and above the 950 ongoing schemes that Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah planned to complete at the earliest.

Before the general elections, Mr Shah had presented a Rs1.144 trillion deficit budget in May, 2018, requesting the House authorise expenditures for three months (July to September) to allow the post-election government a free hand to decide for the remainder.

Interaction with some key members of the economic hierarchy confirmed that the budget was not treated as an opportunity to reorient policy direction or fix implementation weaknesses

Drawing comfort from their numerical strength in the provincial assembly the chief minister and his team saw the exercise of getting approval of the budget for the remaining fiscal year as routine business. Interaction with some key members of the economic hierarchy confirmed that the event was not treated as an opportunity to reorient policy direction or fix implementation weaknesses.

At the end of two consecutive tenures (from 2008 to 2018) of PPP rule, Sindh lags in both economic and social performance. The comparative pace of progress on most counts is slower in Sindh when comparison to Punjab and, in certain areas, to KP as well.

Sindh’s condition becomes increasingly humiliating with the realisation that Hyderabad, Sukkur and Khairpur are no longer qualified to be on the list of Pakistan’s 10 biggest cities.

Dr Kaisar Bengali, former economic advisor to the provincial governments of Sindh and Balochistan, laments the absence of a comprehensive Sindh development plan to guide budgets.

“You can never achieve development by piecemeal schemes. To make a dent on poverty and improve the living conditions of the people a comprehensive, well-co-ordinated economic development plan is required; one that defines targets along with periodical benchmarks to assess progress and adjust accordingly.

“If you continue to work in silos, the results will not justify public spending. Put simply, money will be wasted,” he commented on the current budget and the performance of the Sindh government.

The happy stories of stellar performance of certain organisations in Sindh such as the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Indus Hospital, Institute of Business Administration (IBA), and achievements in public private partnership projects, the Benazir Income Support Programme and other initiatives did not get the projection and press they deserved.

Is this deliberate? The fact is that in the absence of credible provincial economic data the PPP leadership lacks enough confidence to claim success or report whatever progress it did achieve at the end of its 10 year rule.

Unfortunately, the importance of building a strong framework that collects relevant economic numbers eludes policymakers. The sorry state of affairs at the provincial bureau of statistics speaks of persistent negligence.

In the budget session concluded last week, re-nominated Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah repeated what he said in May on the floor of the house at the time of his Budget 2018 presentation.

“The focus of this budget is the optimal utilisation of resources to achieve our objectives of socio-economic development… Our priority is to provide more funds for on-going development schemes. We have allocated Rs202bn during FY2018-19 for on-going schemes as compared to Rs151bn in FY2017-18 which is an increase of 25 per cent,” he stated in his speech.

He demanded progress on the National Finance Commission and stressed that the provincial government was facing a shortfall of Rs59bn in federal transfers.

“The first three months of the current financial year have come to an end and the Sindh government was supposed to receive Rs166bn but has only received Rs107bn… This is why we slashed our development portfolio,” he said.

Dr Naeem uz Zafar, chief economist Sindh planning and development, who holds the additional charge of director general Sindh bureau of statistics, highlighted dividends of the continuity of economic policies when the ruling party returned to power once again. In terms of the difference between the May and September Budgets he said that water schemes enjoy a greater focus than before.

Commenting on computation of provincial GDP and sub-state economic survey he highlighted issues related to capacity in the relevant department and lack of interest in the federal agency to extend the necessary technical assistance. “We are trying to mobilise the department and hope to set the ball rolling over the next few weeks,” he said.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, October 8th, 2018

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