After about more than one year the government has introduced in the national assembly the first ever Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Bill (FR&DLB) - 2003. It stipulates to achieve twin objectives of reducing fiscal deficit to zero from existing 4.5 per cent of GDP by June 30, 2008 and maintain a revenue surplus thereafter and to reduce public debt to 60 per cent of GDP from existing around 90 per cent by 2013 and to keep reducing it further by 2.5 per cent each year. Introduction of the bill was long over due but given the uncertainty of the milieu in which economic and political policies were operated in the past, the bill was hardly ever conceived to fulfill a constitutional obligation and when it was conceived it had to be delayed from July last year because of political expediencies. Hopefully, there is a change in the environment and national assembly will be in a position to debate the bill and make necessary changes to make it realistic.…
