LAHORE:
I fail to understand why every successive government at the helm — starting from the first IMF standby agreement for $25 million signed on 8 March 1958, followed by the second for $37.5 million on 16 March 1965, the third on 17 October 1968 for $75 million, etc. — has failed to achieve economic self-sustenance. As a nation, we must acknowledge that geopolitics is a reality we must live with until we can generate enough revenues through direct taxation on all sources of income, thereby avoiding huge budget deficits.
Rather than blaming others, we need to set our own house in order by enforcing financial discipline and eliminating the black economy, instead of promoting it with endless amnesty schemes. Our expenditures must be reduced, and the bureaucracy needs to cut back on its red tape hurdles or be purged, thereby creating a conducive environment for foreign and domestic investment in export and employment-generating industries. Failure to do so will keep Pakistan perpetually hostage to international financial institutions and the countries controlling them. Given the enormous debts this country has to pay, it is unjustified for its paid and elected public office holders to lead an ostentatious lifestyle, living in luxurious subsidised gated housing societies while a multitude of poor people live in utter poverty. Certainly, the IMF cannot be blamed when the land holdings of small-scale farmers are forcibly taken over by the powerful land mafia, and the judiciary regularises such gross practices. Industries established on land provided by provincial governments are being demolished in collusion with the bureaucracy and political executives, and are being replaced with shopping malls and plazas.
This havala system will continue to thrive as long as the real estate boom persists with minimal taxation, although it is widely known that the black economy is parked there. State-Owned Enterprises have become rehabilitation centers, offering jobs to those receiving pensions post-retirement, while the more qualified youth remain unemployed. These outdated practices must be stopped immediately.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 3rd, 2023.
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