ISLAMABAD, : Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday asked the federal ministries to deliver their best and address the challenges facing the country by prioritizing and channelizing the issues.
“There is no excuse for the government for any lack of experience. It is the time to deliver,” the Prime Minister said, as he inked a ‘Performance Agreement of Ministries for the Year 2020-21’ with his cabinet members.
The Performance Agreement is aimed at pacing up the working of federal ministries for an overall improved governance.
The Prime Minister warned that the persons found responsible for red-tapism in ministries, particularly in case of projects beneficial for the country, would be penalized.
The federal ministers, sitting side by side with the Prime Minister, separately signed the agreement, pledging to meet the set targets while implementing the government’s agenda of economic prosperity.
The Prime Minister counted power generation, subsidies, inflation, exports, food security, pension system and agriculture as the “major challenges” requiring action on urgent basis.
“We will prioritize every sector or area having the potential to generate revenue,” he said.
Terming the power sector as “most complicated and complex challenge”, he said, efforts were needed for its rationalization and synchronization to address the problem of circular debt.
On subsidies, Imran Khan said managing the huge financial burden of Rs 2,500 billion was a real challenge.
He endorsed the subsidies for the purpose of wealth creation or benefit of the under-privileged, however opposed an across-the-board facility even for affluent.
The Prime Minister said the hefty amount of pensions in lieu of federal and provincial public departments was another “liability” that required an effective and affordable system.
He mentioned the pension scheme proposed by Dr Ishrat Hussain under Civil Service Reforms which was based on the Malaysia’s Dr Mahathir formula of ‘pensions converted into savings’.
He said including the subjects of food security and environment in provincial list under the 18th Amendment made it difficult to meet the goals due to lack of coordination among Centre and provinces.
Imran Khan said in case a province did not release wheat stock, it put an undue blame on the Centre for an overall price inflation of the commodity.
The Prime Minister said increase in agricultural productivity was vital and mentioned that Pakistan was adopting techniques from China under transfer of agri-technology linked with the Economic Corridor.
He said economy made a remarkable turnaround in two years with current account witnessed in surplus for last consecutive five months.
“To ensure continuity of positive economic indicators, it is important to identify the pitfalls in advance,” he said.
The Prime Minister lauded his Special Assistant on Establishment Mohammed Shehzad Arbab for the initiative of Performance Agreement of ministries, which will ensure good governance.
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