Pakistan’s economic crisis continues unabated and unfortunately, instead of using this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to turn Pakistan’s economy around, the powers that be continue with their shenanigans and same old policies that will only provide a temporary fix.
The Finance Minister has been on a drive delivering speeches on “positive economic developments like slowing inflation, closing current account gap, stable exchange rate, falling interest rates, improving reserves” but has yet to explain why the IMF loan has been delayed or why friendly countries have as yet refused to rollover their debt to Pakistan.
As an editorial in Dawn noted, “Pakistan’s economy has long been in the grips of financial instability, characterised by rising debt burden, stagnating growth, widening fiscal deficit, and recurring balance of payments crises, which force it to take recourse to heavy external borrowing to avert default on its foreign payments.”
Further, the Editorial warned, “debt rollovers and the IMF provide temporary relief but do not repair the underlying structural faults in the economy. The only way forward towards long-term economic stability, growth and debt-free prosperity lies in broadening the tax revenue base, increasing and diversifying exports, and attracting sustainable foreign direct investment. No shortcuts will work this time around.”
