ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar on Saturday rejected the impression that State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2021 is risk to the national security and said that the central bank would continue to be owned by the federal government.
He said that the SBP (amendment) Bill 2021 is being politicized. The opposition is only engaging in political point-scoring on the issue of SBP autonomy.
He informed that the boom and bust cycle in Pakistan’s economy is linked with the autonomy of the central bank. The central banks of the other countries including Untied States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and Western Europe are still more autonomous than the autonomy granted to the SBP by government after amending the law, the federal energy minister said at a press conference here.
Under the new law, the SBP would not take politicized decision and would take long term view on the policies. He added that all political parties have mentioned SBP autonomy in their manifestos. The PML-N had introduced some amendment regarding SBP autonomy. However it did not follow it. He rejected the impression that SBP (amendment) bill is risk to the National Security. He clarified that federal government would own the SBP as institution and its assets.
‘This is not a party where seniors hush up if a child walks in on them’
The federal minister also clarified that the federal government would appoint Governor, Deputy Governor and board of directors of the central bank after the passage of SBP (amendment) bill from the parliament. The opposition parties are playing politics on it, as it is one of the major reforms that were demanded by some independent economists from quite long time, he added.
Talking about the economic situation, Hammad Azhar said Pakistan’s economy is growing as the GDP growth would increase to 5 percent, tax collection to surge to Rs6 trillion, exports would climb to $30 billion and remittances would enhance to $31 billion during the current fiscal year. He further said that the government had launched Sehat (health) cards to the people, which would reduce their problems.
He informed that the National Assembly has recently approve historic reform bill on weighted average cost of gas (WACOG), which comprises costs of locally produced gas and imported LNG. He hoped that Senate would soon approve the bill.
The minister informed that the incumbent government had introduced market based exchange rate, which helped in increasing the country’s exports. In the past, finance ministers used to fix the exchange rate on phone calls, which resulted in massive losses to the foreign exchange reserves of the country. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had included Pakistan in black list initially and later into grey list. The incumbent government had followed one of the toughest Action Plans of the FATF, which was appreciated by the world. Pakistan has implemented 26 action items out of total 27 on the FATF list.
Talking about other reforms, Hammad said that the presented government had separated Customs Policy from the tax policy of the Federal Board of Revenue. The government had also renegotiated with the Independent Power Producers (IPPs), which remained successful. Furthermore, the government has focused on transmission line of the electricity, which was ignored by the previous government. He added that fuel charges adjustment (FCA) increased due to hike in prices of imported LNG and coal, as the previous government installed power plants running on LNG and coal. However, the incumbent government is working on 10 dams. Around 70 to 80 per cent electricity will be produced using indigenous resources by 2030 as construction work on ten dams has started, he added. The agriculture sector is performing well due to the policies of the incumbent government. The farmers had received sufficient amount against their crops, which resulted in shortage due to their massive demands.
The minister denied the reports that he had an altercation with Defence Minister Pervez Khattak over the gas shortage in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. “Khattak is my senior and one of the most respectable ones for me,” Azhar said. He said that Khattak did not complain about the gas shortage but raised the ban against new gas connections. The PTI is a democratic party where everyone can talk openly. This is not a party where seniors hush up if a child walks in on them,” he said.
The federal minister claimed that financial reforms would continue for the next five years.