IN a televised address to the nation on Thursday, seen as the farewell speech, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while reiterating his pledge to hand over power to the caretaker set-up on completion of the tenure of the present assemblies next month (August), took legitimate pride in the fact that despite serious challenges his government cleared the debris and economic landmines laid by the previous Government. True to the spirit of a team leader, he attributed the remarkable success and achievements to the collective wisdom of the coalition partners and stakeholders and prudent policies pursued during the short period at their disposal. Referring to the unending and unabated obstacles created by the political opponents in the way of smooth working of the system, he said the government cleared the four-year mess just in fifteen months and doused the fire that had engulfed the economy and the foreign relations.
The satisfaction that the Prime Minister expressed over performance of his government is not without a reason as the policies implemented during this period not only averted an imminent default despite repeated countdowns predicted by the opposition leaders but also put the economy on a right track where the business community is expressing full confidence in the economic future of the country. The PM can legitimately claim that the coalition government cared for the economy and not the vote bank while taking tough decisions in the immediate and long-term interests of the country. These decisions cost heavily to the government, especially the PML(N), as the party lost almost all by-elections to political opponents at a time when it needed to secure each and every vacant seat in the National Assembly and the Punjab Assembly n view of the delicate nature of the numbers’ game in the two houses. It is because of the backlash of the hard decisions and bitter policies that electoral prospects for the party in the next general election were not as bright as they should have been due to its dedication to the national causes and that too at the cost of its popularity. It was in this context that the PM complained that the political opponents remained busy hatching conspiracies and creating hurdles while the coalition government was trying to revive the economy. PML(N) might have invited the wrath of the public opinion but there can hardly be two opinions among neutral experts and patriotic Pakistanis that it is because of the economic and financial policies of the government and hard work on the external front that today people of Pakistan see a ray of hope at the end of the tunnel and the dented credibility of the country stands restored. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released the much-talked about instalment worth $1.2 billion and friendly countries like China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates came out in a big way to extend a helping hand in overcoming the financial crunch. Luckily, there is a realization on a national level that the country cannot make genuine progress and achieve prosperity without breaking the begging bowl and that is why comprehensive and workable plans have been evolved to attract investment in sectors that are considered as engines of growth. The Special Investment Facilitation Council has been set up, which had initiated its work and was paving the way for big investment from the Gulf countries in various fields, including agriculture, industry, energy, IT, defence production and minerals. The country witnessed and suffered heavily due to self-serving approaches by political parties and different stakeholders whereas there was a need to forge consensus on economic issues. Based on this bitter experience when national interests were sacrificed at the altar of political expediency as was done by the PTI Government during the last few weeks of its rule and the kind of politics it did after losing power, there is dire need to sign a Charter of Economy as the country and its people cannot afford repeat of the crisis. Things are moving in the right direction after signing an accord with the IMF as is reflected by the stock and currency markets. The stock exchange index has crossed the 45,000 points level, which was highest in fourteen months and the rupee too is stabilizing around 277 a dollar. However, there is no scope for complacency in view of the grave nature of the economic and financial challenges which cannot be addressed satisfactorily without genuine and meaningful efforts aimed at domestic resource generation, reducing the cost of doing business to increase production and exports and make the right kind of investment on human capital. Pakistan is today heavily indebted and according to the IMF forecasts the burden of loans would surge from the current $136 billion to $152.136 by the year 2027-28. The country is already securing more loans to repay the previous ones and our economic and political sovereignty would be in jeopardy if no serious efforts were made to improve repayment capability. It is a matter of serious concern that while the country was sinking under the burden of the debt, the decision-makers afforded the luxury of granting interest-free dollar loans worth three billion among blue-eyed and most of them digested the money on the pretext of default. What a pity that the country was forced to accept conditions that impacted on the lives of the common man badly for the sake of just 1.2 billion dollars but we had the audacity to squander $3 billion. The worst aspect of the entire episode is that it happened under the watchful eyes of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) which is now not in favour of disclosing fuller details on the excuse of secrecy of the data. Similarly, there is also no accountability of the banks accused of dollar scam despite repeated demands from different segments of the society. It is unjust to keep on demanding sacrifices from the common man while privileged classes continue misuse of scarce national resources including the costly foreign loans. In this backdrop, the next parliament should thoroughly debate the issue of external loans including their transparent usage for productive purposes. The coalition government has provided first-aid and successfully avoided a default and now it would be the responsibility of the next government to carry out the surgery.
