It\u2019s difficult to make out just why Finance Minster Miftah Ismail\u2019s decision to raise petrol prices the other day, just when Brent had dropped for the week in the international market, caused such a rift within the PML-N. If the party supremo and his daughter, the vice president and also its charismatic face, didn\u2019t want Miftah to go ahead with the rise, and he did it anyway, it goes to show an enviable level of independence for the finance ministry, which, under ordinary circumstances, ought to be appreciated.
\nLet us not forget that rallying around a consensus, despite differences, is the very essence of democracy. Therefore, if Nawaz and Maryam aired their dislike in public to gain some measure of sympathy, it is not very likely to work either because people\u2019s sentiments will be driven by their experiences at the pump, not how they feel after reading Maryam\u2019s protesting tweets.
\nThe fact is that Miftah\u2019s hands are tied. And, under the circumstances, he\u2019s done a pretty good job of reviving the IMF bailout program, for which he has had to operate like a cold-hearted surgeon, knowing full well that structural adjustment requires painful and protracted austerity. But that is only one part of the picture.
\nFor the reforms to truly turn the economy, the finance ministry would have to incentivize manufacturing and production in a way that improves export revenue and relieves pressure on the current account. Otherwise, all this sacrifice would be for nothing and we will remain caught in the borrow-to-survive cycle.
\nIt was, after all, because of the Sharif family\u2019s intervention that the ministry had to roll back the fixed tax on traders, which cost the kitty something in excess of Rs30b for the year. Now, for very obvious reasons, the ministry has to do very painful financial acrobatics to balance its books in a way that doesn\u2019t upset the Fund. And the axe, as always, will fall on the common man, no matter how much of a fuss anybody at Jati Umra makes about it. The days when Ishaq Dar\u2019s antics could be allowed to fiddle with the market are long gone. And the last thing PML-N wants is for Miftah to throw his hands up in despair and call it a day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s difficult to make out just why Finance Minster Miftah Ismail\u2019s decision to raise petrol prices the other day, just when Brent had dropped for the week in the international market, caused such a rift within the PML-N. If the party supremo and his daughter, the vice president and also its charismatic face, didn\u2019t want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[10227],"class_list":{"0":"post-278332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorial","7":"tag-fury-within-pml-n"},"yoast_head":"\n