Review amidst roars

Afiscal year.

midst traders' strike widely observed across the country,

the

first review

ures to the Fund.

of the International Monetary Fund

(IMF) bailout package began in the federal capital.

The IMF will in fact be asked to consider this request in the midst

of an ongoing countrywide strike will perhaps add some urgency to

the discussions as the government has promised to forward the

traders' demand for the withdrawal of some key documentation meas

The Fund must impress upon the government the cost of retreat

ing from its goal of documentation of the economy. It is fair for the

government to search for ways to break the impasse created by the

imposition of a CNIC condition upon all transactions of traders since

this condition has nearly jammed the wheels of the economy.

What is important, however, is that in the middle of this urgency,

the costs and consequences of a retreat from the documentation goals

of the government, announced in its last budget as well as clearly laid

out in the Fund programme, will be very large. The traders are

adamant that who they buy from and sell to is none of the govern

ment's concern, only the quantum of revenue that is recovered from

them is its business. But in the last budget speech, it was clearly said

that the "primary theme of this budget is to improve documentation of

economy", and conceding to the traders' demand to consider one tax

on turnover as a full and final settlement of their tax obligations

would be nothing short of a retreat from this position.

The supply chain of vendors, suppliers, distributors, retailers and

wholesalers that keeps the manufacturing industry in motion and sup

plied with raw materials, and access to markets where they can dis

gorge their output, is currently halted mainly due to the imposition of

this condition. It was easy enough to see the impasse coming in July

when the documentation efforts were launched, but at the time the

government repeatedly struck a strong and unequivocal note, sig

nalling its determination to not back down.

The 'primary theme' of the budget and the government's econom

ic programme would stand defeated, barely one quarter into the new