Politicians slammed for indulging in power struggle instead of improving economy

KARACHI: The country’s political elites are far too busy fighting for power instead of giving any thought to the much-needed transformation of the economy through an ‘economic charter’. Subsequently, the country is continuing to rely on loans and grants just to stay solvent.

Due to poor management, the economic crisis is growing, said Ateeq-ur-Rehman, a well-known economic and financial analyst.

A majority of the population is suffering due to the poor conditions obtaining in the country, as the prices of food and fuel and electricity tariffs have all gone up tremendously, he added.

The government has failed to control trade deficit, current account deficit increasing rate of interest, ballooning value of US dollar, and rising inflation, etc.

“I am afraid that we are not going to benefit from the ‘great relocation of China’s labour-intensive industry’, as Cambodia, Laos and even Ethiopia may be better options for them despite higher cost of labour in those countries,” said Mr Rehman.

If the opportunity is lost, that will be due to Pakistan’s higher political risk, weaker intellectual property rights, less competitive energy prices, higher logistics cost, and poor access to international markets and finance. Above all, low labour productivity, safety and security, said the analyst.

“We can overcome these challenges provided our politicians decide to give top priority to improvement of Pakistan’s economic conditions and the economic charter is held more important that the political charter by all means.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022