ISLAMABAD, Jan 11 (APP): Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML N) led
federal government had been successful in improving the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as per its manifesto, the 8th Government Policy Scorecard published by a local think tank said.
According to Islamabad based Economic Research Think Tank
Prime Institute, the government’s score on ten point scale increased
from 5.01 to 5.11 for improving growth rate, showing two percent increase.
The government’s score also increased from 2.71 to 3.44 on the
scale, showing 27 percent improvement in performance for bringing tax reforms during the past six months.
The report was unveiled by Chief Executive Officer Prime Institute, Ali Salam. He was flanked by Chief Operating Officer of the institute
Ayesha Bilal and Research Analyst Talha Hassan.
The report noted that the government had also been successful
in achieving progressive scores as per the performance of the state owned enterprises were concerned.
The report noted that during the period under review, the government had considerably built the confidence of private sector.
It also noted improvements in scores of bringing reforms of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) and in the field of rationalization of energy tariffs in line with international prices across all fuels.
The report observed positive growth in reforms of Oil and Gas
Regulatory Authority (OGRA) and import of gas through pipelines, setting up
of coal and LNG import terminals and coal transportation facilities
besides acquiring good score for improvements in setting up at least
5000 MW of new coal fired power plants.
According to the report, overall 89 targets were set by the
PML N in its political manifesto out of which five had been achieved so far, while some improvements had been observed in 25 targets and work on ten was yet to be started. Whereas, some witnessed negative growth.
The 8th report of the think tank had awarded an overall score of 5.33 out of 10 to energy security as compared to 5.27 out of 10 in its 7th report.
The reason behind this increase was progress made by the LESCO
and IESCO in going forward with Net metering sale guarantee for small producers and consumers.
Corporatization of DISCOs, enhancement in efficiency in distribution and management of load shedding and tariff rationalization in gas sector were other areas of energy security in which the government had performed better.
Since the elections of May 2013, the incumbent regime had improved overall score from 3.66 to 4.97, an overall average score of 4.43 over four years.
To a question, Ali Salman said domestic debt was two third of the total debts, most of which was taken by the government.
GDP improved in incumbent government period: Think Tank
