Begging bowl useless without fiscal prudence.

Pakistan's policy makers are eagerly awaiting a meeting of the so-called 'friends of Pakistan' in Tokyo on April 17 to present the country's dire case for additional foreign assistance just when economic conditions around the world are worsening.

Pakistan is asking for up to $10 billion (Dh36.7 billion) in addition to already-promised aid over the next three years. The funds are being sought mainly to revive the overall economic climate through various strategies that include additional spending on public service projects.

The objective behind this approach is all too obvious. Pakistan is seeking to step up its overall development expenditure to pull itself out of an ongoing recession. However, this strategy is more than likely to work but just for a while.

The idea of getting money from donors and spending it for the cause of economic revival is neither new nor necessarily gives the promise of assured success. For one, this approach does not address some of the most fundamental problems that have been plaguing the economy.

There has to be recognition that Pakistan needs to improve its own ability to mobilise resources through radically improving its tax collection service. Currently, just one per cent of its population pay their taxes.

However, there is a bigger issue which has to do with Pakistan's repeated failure to improve the management of its budgetary resources.

That has to do with a failure to improve the management of expenditure to ensure that money already dedicated or about to come for developmental purposes is used judiciously.

There are indeed examples of countries that have improved the overall quality of their public expenditures - using a variety of methods ranging from well-tried ones to new and ground-breaking ideas.

The ultimate idea must be about drastically lowering the extent to which wastages are built into the expenditure system. This must be done through the adoption of at least one of two interconnected ways.

On the one hand, it is vital to improve public accountability of ongoing expenditures. For long, successive governments have promised to ensure such accountability. However, few have actually delivered on this area.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that getting a full breakdown for public expenditure is next to impossible. The government may be willing to volunteer information on overall expenditure on a project.

However, going a step further easily demonstrates the difficulties within the system.

On the other hand, there is also plenty of evidence of wastage. Kaiser Bengali, a leading Pakistani economist, last year claimed that the equivalent of up to $1.25 billion could be saved by the Pakistani government if there was an aggressive push to shut down areas of government which serve little purpose.

To date, while the government has reached out to its donors for funds, it has failed to pursue dramatic measures to cut down expenditure. In the ultimate analysis, economic assistance of the kind that Pakistan is seeking, may prove to be ultimately futile.

To sustain economic development, Pakistan would benefit far more if it was to oversee a sharp improvement in its exports that have remained sluggish in the midst of difficult economic conditions.

The Pakistani government is indeed seeking greater access for its exports to western markets. Still, there are gaps in the ways that the country is pursuing this objective.

Simply seeking access to overseas markets fails to recognise vast needs at home - for example, improving the quality of education and training of its human resources. Any move in such direction will indirectly increase exports through larger access to overseas markets.

Aa

The writer is a journalist based in Pakistan.

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