Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif deserves credit for steadfastly pursuing policies and programmes aimed at promoting long-term interest of the country in the realm of economy, security and foreign affairs. Normally, elected governments and leaders avoid taking difficult and bitter measures fearing backlash from the public opinion but the Prime Minister, through his actions, demonstrated beyond any doubt that for him the future of the country is more important than popular politics and his strategy has started paying dividends as economic indicators are improving and masses getting gradual relief.
There can be no two opinions that conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are one of the main factors behind high inflation caused by repeated hikes in power tariff and a liberal exchange rate policy but there was no other choice but to reform the economy and mobilize domestic resources. The Prime Minister is mindful of the sufferings of the people because of the Government-IMF deals and it was in this backdrop that while expressing commitment to meet requirements and conditions of the IMF to secure the ongoing deal, he declared that it would be the last IMF programme so that the country could stand on its own feet. This is, indeed, a realistic course of action to implement agreed reforms aimed at saving expenditure and expanding tax net and then say goodbye not only to the IMF but also to other costly loans as well. It is the aspiration of the people to get rid of unnecessary loans as the country is finding it difficult to pay back from its limited resources. The nation backs the Prime Minister in his resolve to reduce dependence on foreign loans and never go back to the IMF. We have been emphasizing in these columns, time and again, that the people of Pakistan have already sacrificed a lot for the sake of structural reforms and now it is the responsibility of the Government to ensure that these reforms benefit the country as originally conceived by planners. the Prime Minister is fortunate to have a visionary Finance Minister in Muhammad Aurangzeb, who is determined to advance the PML(N) Government’s agenda. In his televised address on Tuesday, the Minister conveyed a clear message to all concerned that all sectors of the economy (including traders) will have to contribute to the national exchequer and that the right-sizing exercise will be conducted in a transparent manner. No doubt, merit and transparency are the way forward.
