ISLAMABAD: The members of high profile Economic Advisory Council (EAC) have protested laxity of Finance Ministry over convening the EAC session on short notice after which the government decided to postpone its meeting till next week.The government had made plans to hold EAC meeting on Thursday (today) and sent email messages about the meeting for getting their input on “medium term strategy paper” before making it public.Minister for Finance Asad Umar had announced on eve of second amendment bill before the Parliament that the medium term strategy would be announced this week. Now it seems that the government will have to delay its plan for sharing its medium term strategy paper with the public till next week as it wants to incorporate viewpoint of renowned economists belonging to high profile EAC. It is expected that Prime Minister Imran Khan may chair the EAC meeting next week for getting input of EAC on government’s strategy.However, some EAC members showed their non-availability on such a short notice of the meeting by raising point that how it would be possible for them to share their input on 37 page report within short span of time.Then it was proposed to hold meeting on Friday but again the members opposed it arguing that some members would be busy in their prior scheduled engagements. Now the government is considering convening the EAC meeting next week probably on Monday.When this scribe contacted one top official of Finance Ministry on Wednesday, he said that the government shared draft copy of medium term budgetary framework with the EAC members enabling them to share their input after reading this document in details. However, the official made efforts to convince this scribe that it was not worthwhile to file story about the internal discussions held among the members of EAC and government functionaries after which the meeting was postponed from this ongoing week.Four members of high profile EAC had already resigned from this forum and the latest one is Sakib Sherani who claimed to tender his resignation because of his personal reasons. However, there are increasing complaints within the ranks of the EAC that most of the members were bypassed in the key decision-making process as the government did not bother to consult them on finance supplementary (second amendment) bill 2019 and macroeconomic framework.When this scribe filed story on this subject after which the Finance Ministry made plans to convene EAC meeting for getting their input on medium term strategy paper. Meanwhile, Chief Economist, Department for International Development (DFID), UK, Rachel Glennerster called on Finance Minister Asad Umer here on Wednesday. Ms Glennerster appreciated the measures taken by the government to stabilise the macroeconomic imbalances and informed the finance minister of the support being provided by DFID towards economic and social development of Pakistan.The chief economist also had exchange of views with the finance minister on government's plans to reform the energy sector and promote renewable energy solutions. She informed the minister that DFID is ready to assist the government of Pakistan to tap climate finance funds to support the drive for renewable energy. The finance minister appreciated the work being done by DFID in Pakistan.
from The News International - National http://bit.ly/2DK8GFM
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