The turf war on TERF
The revelation of the names of 628 beneficiaries of the Rs425 billion soft credit scheme may capture the attention of the public that has an unsatiable appetite for controversies, but the disclosure of the source of funds, its targets, the perceived cost and actualised benefits are probably also relevant and merit attention. It is equally important to know if the scheme was a State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) brainchild or if the finance ministry pulled the strings to issue investors’ friendly stimulus. Furthermore, do schemes such as Temporary Economic Refinance Facility (TERF) essentially fit in the monetary policy tools kit of the central bank, or it falls in the ambit of fiscal policy, spelt by the finance ministry? Who must answer for TERF, Dr Reza Baqir, governor SBP at the time or former finance minister Dr Abdul Hafiz Sheikh? The plot thickened when last week, a day after reports of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) dropping the matter during an in-camera hearing on TERF, formed an inquiry committee comprising of the Auditor General’s office, Federal Investigation Agency and National Accountability Bureau to investigate the issue and report back to PAC in 15 days. It’s a task that many, familiar with such affairs, consider undoable in the limited time.