Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has done well enough, considering the circumstances, to defy the odds and stitch together a widely representative 34-member cabinet, even though a few members might still need to be cajoled into coming on board. He did take his sweet time in announcing the new federal cabinet but in the end, made sure that most big players were part of it. The matter of when PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will take oath as a foreign minister should also be clear soon enough. Yet now is when the real test will start. There’s plenty of speculation about how such different mindsets, ideologies and political interests are going to work together towards common goals. And while that matter will be settled in due time, the immediate concern is preparing the next annual budget. It’s safe to say that former PM Imran Khan deliberately set a time bomb in the economy with his so-called relief package that came right at the end of his administration because it not only hopelessly upset the fiscal balance but also got the IMF bailout program suspended. Without the Fund, there’s little hope of more (urgently needed) debt from other bilateral and multilateral donors or of the rupee stabilising anytime soon. That’s why the new government is very eager to resume the EFF (Extended Fund Facility). The problem, however, is that it would require all subsides to be rolled back immediately and indefinitely. And that, in turn, would mean undoing the relief package and increasing petrol prices by more than a hundred rupees in one go. Surely such a step would spell the end of the new administration even before it’s got going properly, and some other arrangement would have to be worked out. It’s very important to understand that unless and until the question of the bailout program is settled, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail cannot really put the final touches on the budget document that will have to be ready in just a couple of months now. That explains why SBP Governor Reza Baqir’s already shuttled to Washington for a conference that Minister Miftah will attend via video call. It seems they will have to undo the unfeasible petrol price freeze. And just how long they take to do it will decide how much time all the new ministers will have to sign off on their ministries’ proposals for the budget. This, not the cabinet or who’s not yet part of it, ought to be top on the new PM’s mind. *