It’s our own failing
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar seems to have settled down on assumptions. His contention that the country’s geopolitics is being used as a ploy by donors, deliberately forcing it to default, is an unbecoming excuse. It simply hints at a strategy of abdicating responsibility, after having taken the nation for a ride that he is the only man who can deal with the IMF for striking a deal. The financial wizard’s argument that the Fund wants to see Islamabad default like Colombo, and then stride on for patchwork, does not merit a salt. Pakistan is a vital member and pushing it towards socio-economic chaos is an unwarranted proposition, and does not fit in terms of international security. In such a scenario, the 240 million populace will be more difficult to manage and throw open a Pandora’s Box of unseen repercussions.
The fact of the matter is that for a year, Pakistan’s economy has been on the downslide. In FY23, it posted a degenerated slump in the form of 0.3% growth compared to around 5.6% a year ago. Moreover, the EFF Program of $6.5 billion took several digs and the government, despite threadbare talks, could not convince the consortium for a bailout. Likewise, the Fund had come up with some ‘do more’ talking points that consisted of sharing with it the source of income and assets of those at the helm of affairs, ensure transparency in revenue generation machinery, as well as doing away with protectionism strategy in many of the arenas of economy. The coalition government flunked and did all it can to pass on the pinch to the common man by slapping more taxes on essential commodities, and raising the prices of energy and petroleum products. Last but not least, it lost the confidence of the expatriates and saw remittances nosedive as rupee continued to bleed against the greenback.
The sorry state of affairs that we are in today is owing to our own failings. Enough of relying on a conspiracy theory, and passing on the buck. Pakistan must tap its inner potential to come full circle, and the least that is required is stop sparing the sacred cows in the economy when it comes to taxation.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 17th, 2023.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.