KARACHI: The federal government is launching an ambitious Rs1.4 trillion financial assistance programme next week, hoping for quarterly disbursement of Rs40 billion interest-free loans across the country to help people set up their businesses, increase productivity in the agriculture sector and build homes with an additional facility of training for skill development, a key cabinet member said on Saturday.

Calling it “something huge and extraordinary”, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said the programme had already been introduced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan at an initial level and was part of the government’s “bottom-up” approach to increase revenue at the grassroots level to meet the growing challenge of inflation.

“There is a concept that whenever there will be growth at the upper level, people at the lower level will benefit from it through a trickle-down impact,” he said while addressing a pre-launch ceremony of the Kamyab Jawan Programme in Sindh at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry before its formal launch at Governor House later in the evening.

Tarin terms current wave of inflation global phenomenon

“But unfortunately, for the past 74 years, the people at the lower level of society are waiting for the trickle-down effect. But it must stop now. Now we should go for a bottom-up strategy and for that Kamyab Jawan Programme is the first action on these lines. Now in the next phase, we are bringing something much bigger and huge. That would be Kamyab Pakistan Programme to be launched across the country on Feb 16,” he said.

The finance minister said the Kamyab Pakistan Programme was designed under the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan who was clear that the lower and middle classes of society could only be rescued amid the growing challenge through opportunities of raising their resources and opportunities for more income.

Mr Tarin justified the growing inflation and mainly its impact on edible items while showing helplessness that the current wave of increase in prices was a global phenomenon and the government couldn’t do anything but “to wait for a break in the super cycle of commodity prices”.

“I was watching today an interview of [US President Joe] Biden who was telling the anchor that he was really very worried about inflation in the United States which has never gone beyond one per cent but it’s touching 7.5pc today.

“So our economy is in the right direction. But yes, there are headwinds. But these headwinds are not because of us. These are the ones which have even put Biden in trouble. These are the ones which have even made the British prime minister worried. These have put Germany in trouble. The world is facing a crisis because of this super cycle of commodity prices,” he said.

The minister said the “imported inflation” was badly affecting the national revenue and had pushed the government to take measures to contain the pressure and give some relief to the common man. “When oil prices rise to $95 from $42 [a barrel] within a year, what can the government do? It can’t do anything,” he said.

“The government, however, is taking measures to control things domestically. The government is bearing a loss of Rs22bn to Rs24bn every month because of the directive from the prime minister. Because of him, I have waived sales tax [on petroleum products]. I have also cut down PDL [petroleum development levy] just not to increase prices. That’s what the government can do, but it’s costing us Rs22-24bn every month,” he added.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2022