Finance: Pauperising the people

Pakistan’s economy has long been suffering from several structural problems. But instead of finding sustainable solutions to those problems, our successive governments have often relied on quick fixes. These problems have so much compounded that the government of the day alone cannot address them successfully. Problems like alarmingly high levels of domestic and external debts, fiscal deficit, unemployment, poverty and critically low levels of exports, remittances, foreign investment and foreign exchange reserves are all interlinked. And all of them are structural in nature. To address them, Pakistan needs to formulate sustainable, long-term policies and ensure its flawless implementation year after year — for a decade or so. But that is possible only under a stable, vibrant democracy — not military dictatorships or hybrid regimes. Pakistan in 2023 is facing such deep-rooted economic problems that if a long-term policy for economic reconstruction is not designed and owned by all stakeholders of the state and if it is not implemented honestly, we may not see a prosperous Pakistan emerging even in 2033.