THE caretaker government of Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar has set some very ambitious economic targets for itself. For example, it wants to raise the tax-to-GDP ratio from below 9pc to 13pc, and boost exports from $28bn to $80bn. In the next few days, we may hear about more such plans. These do not sound like the plans of a caretaker dispensation with the limited mandate of helping the ECP hold fair polls in a safe environment. With fears being expressed about potential poll delays beyond the mandatory period because of planned delimitations, it is only natural that many suspect the interim set-up is here to stay indefinitely. Mr Kakar’s maiden address to his cabinet has deepened the confusion about the administration’s shelf life. “We are here for an allocated time and don’t have a perpetual mandate,” he said, adding in the same breath, “so that utmost duty — maybe it is for a month, two, three or whatever the allocated time is — we will demonstrate not through our words but through our actions.”

It should not be surprising then if his ministers are setting big targets for themselves that are difficult to achieve even in years let alone a few months. That said, it is encouraging to see the PM promising to fulfil the international commitments made by previous governments, and ensure financial discipline during the interim period. Two recent developments — market-determined adjustment of the exchange rate and increase in fuel prices to meet IMF goals — indicate that the caretakers may keep their word and not allow the new loan programme to derail. Indeed, the tax and export targets of the government are crucial for the country to achieve in the shortest possible time. But the interim set-up would do itself and the people a favour by at least attempting to refrain from crossing the limits set by the Constitution and not using the economy as a ploy to prolong its tenure.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2023