This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed “There’s need to focus on economy” carried by the newspaper yesterday.
The writer, Farhat Ali, has clearly identified the priority areas for the incoming government, suggesting a way forward. Of course, nothing can be more important than the state of country’s economy at this point in time.
Hence the need for taking all the required steps that are aimed at bringing about a discernable improvement in country’s economy that certainly needs immediate attention, to say the least.
Be that as it may, I wish to respond to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) benevolence that it has unjustly and unfairly bestowed upon the caretaker setup in the shape of a lavish praise for meeting the targets the Fund had set for Pakistan while sanctioning an emergent lending for this South Asian country.
The current so-called interim setup, which is not an interim one in view of its protracted nearly one-year rule, has only acted as an extension of its predecessor Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government. That it failed to act impartially is no secret.
Demonizing Pakistan Tehik-e-Insaf (PTI) and depriving it of a level playing field in the run up to the general election were some of its greatest successes. More importantly, this setup has in fact added to the country’s economic woes in a meaningful manner.
The unbelievable size of the spending on current expenditure by this government says it all. The IMF, in my view, seems to have lost sight of caretaker setup’s absolutely flawed and imprudent approach to economy.
Sibtain Naqvi, (Lahore)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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