Finance: Pressing need for political stability

Political stability remains amiss. The suppression of dissenting voices and human rights is fuelling fears that this hybrid government may eventually become a repressive regime. The economy has started showing some signs of recovery, but leveraging it for sustainable growth in the future is becoming difficult not only due to structural problems, like a high level of debt and lavish ways of running the government but also due to political chaos and a general sense of insecurity and mistrust prevalent in the country. As the time for presenting next year’s budget is nearing, people and businesses are growing increasingly nervous. The PML-N-led coalition government is trying to develop a budget to appease agitating Pakistanis. Three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has once again become the official head of his party. Though Nawaz has yet to return to the Parliament, he has started holding consultative pre-budget party sessions at his residence and is issuing guidelines to the top government officials, including his brother, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and his daughter, Chief Minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz.