SLAMABAD – Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar has appointed Shahzada Ahsan Ashraf as federal minister in his cabinet.
The Prime Minister’s Office has sent a summary to the president in this regard.
“In terms of third provision to Article 224 (1A) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the President is advised to appoint Mr Shahzada Ahsan Ashraf as Federal Minister in the caretaker cabinet,” reads the summary.
Another national asset of the government of Pakistan, is Utility Stores Corporation (USC). During my very short tenure as Interim former Federal Minister for Industries and Production, the USC has recorded Rs 750Million tax payment towards National exchequer, which is considered to be the highest in the recent past. Secondly, the sale has achieved all time.
Pakistan Steel Mills, once recognized as one of the most profitable national asset, but unfortunately during 2008-2013, the organization is found to be almost bankrupt, dysfunctional, non-profitable entity. It was the time, when even the organization could not be able to pay the salaries of the staff due to lackluster and ill federal government policies. Due to the urgency of the matter, I immediately conducted an emergency meeting with the then Interim Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso, and propose a comprehensive bailout package of 16 Billion Rupees to take out this sinking ship from crisis. The Prime Minister in principal agreed and gave approval for the proposal. Moreover, being Minister in-charge I had also proposed that Rs5 billion owed as interest on loans payable to the National Bank be waived in order to keep PSM financially stable. The actions immediately raise the market credibility of the national institution and put the organization back on track of profitability, which has never done in the recent past during five long years.
Long time pending bureaucratic reforms must be addressed in line with local empowering at the District level. Addressing the issues of Education and Health, post 18thamendment for unified systems in consultation with all provinces with Federal Government to devise policy measures. Similar mechanism is need of the hour for Social Sector reforms to address the entire population no matter which government comes in. Generalize civil service must be replaced with specialized services and professionals to steer the national institutes at their best.
Total public debt was recorded at Rs35,207 billion at the end of March 2020 compared with Rs32,708 billion at the end of June 2019.
The size of Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for 2020-21 is Rs 1,324 billion. Out of this, Rs 676 billion has been allocated to provinces.Federal PSDP has been estimated at Rs 650 billion, out of which Rs 418.7 billion for Federal Ministries/Divisions, Rs 100.4 billion for Corporations, Rs 3 billion for Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA), Rs 7 billion for COVID responsive and other natural calamities programme. Pakistan’s total debt