Its once again the same old rhetoric taking Pakistan out of the Economic Storm, a challenge that seems to grow with every Incoming Government and the Problems never seem to end. This time around its Imran Khan and his PTI Lead Government that are putting in their efforts to take Pakistan out of the Economic Turmoil but its easy said then done in the reality.
Khan has also promised to recover funds stashed abroad by corrupt officials, and embarked on a series of populist austerity measures such as auctioning luxury cars owned by the prime minister's house and crowdfunding to build a dam in the country's north. He has also vowed to turn around loss-making state-run enterprises and reform tax collection.
It is not the first time that a Pakistani head of government has launched an austerity drive. In the early 1980s, ex-military dictator General Zia promoted the idea of "Islamic simplicity" as opposed to liberal governance. Former premiers Mohammad Khan Junejo and Nawaz Sharif also publicized their austerity measures in the late 1980s and the 1990s, respectively. All these efforts did not yield any substantial result.
The drive, which involves less government spending on VIP protocols, has created a ripple of excitement among the citizens, who have long criticized the past leaders' lavish lifestyle.
But economists say the government's austerity campaign is not more than a populist stunt that amounts to misleading people on how the government intends to deal with serious economic issues.
Pakistan is currently at the brink of collapse with Current account deficits reaching all time high and Pakistani Rupee depreciating all time high its high time the Government Puts forward a Plan that aims at Putting an Economic Emergency in Pakistan to solve the current issue at hand.
Pakistan's financial debt is currently estimated at $95.097 billion (€81.34 billion). The South Asian country needs $24 billion every year for debt servicing.
The country's trade deficit is also skyrocketing — $37.7 billion in the 2018 fiscal year. In the same fiscal year, Pakistan spent a whopping $60.9 billion on imports, with a big chunk going to the import of machinery for the China-led multi billion-dollar Pakistan-China Economic Corridor (CPEC) infrastructure development initiative.
Pakistani businessmen complain that the government is giving preferential treatment to Chinese companies, whose cheaper products have flooded Pakistani markets and crippled their businesses. The deals of CPEC Are though a game changer for the Pakistani economy in the long run but has started to cripple the local businesses at the short run.
Austerity drive cutting down the expenses , not adopting a luxurious lifestyle are very commendable efforts but at the same time there needs to be a bigger solution that tends to solve Pakistan's economic crisis at hand.
There is no doubt in the sincere efforts the Prime Minister is making in Reviving the Economic betterment of Pakistan, from Economic bailouts from Saudi Arabia and China to negotiations with IMF , his intent his clear but with every bailout package there comes a Political aspect and time will tell whether these Economic bailouts were a sincere effort to help Pakistan or to utilize the Geo strategic Position of Pakistan for Political gains.

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