PARTLY FACETIOUS: ‘Wait for the trickle-down theory to come into effect…’
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a major package for Azad Jammu and Kashmir.”
“Right, was it part of the budget or…”
“Hey think macro.”
“Excuse me! I am merely trying to ascertain whether this has been approved by the International Monetary Fund or not, because if not, then the next tranche release will be delayed and the USD 12 billion rollovers by friendly countries would not be rolled-over – I mean the incentives being announced left, right, and centre…what?”
“Two things my friend – I have a pet and when I say roll over he rolls over so it’s how you train them if you know what I mean.”
“These are our friends.”
“Friends with benefits?”
“OK, I will ignore that statement…”
“Why?”
“Because as you and I both know as a country, we have a tendency to kinda max out the benefits in time.”
“Hmmm anyway moving on the second point I wanted to raise was that our governments do not operate left, right, and centre.”
“Do not or cannot?”
“OK, cannot – our administrations operate up and down.”
“Do you dare suggest that we remain in the same place and don’t adjust our position?”
“Yes, in spite of their intent followed by best efforts they continue the practice of elite capture and by that I mean giving incentives at the taxpayers’ expense to the rich private sector players to encourage output and…”
“Wait for the trickle-down theory to come into effect…”
“Can you give me a time frame for that! I have been waiting and waiting and…”
“Let them privatise…”
“We privatised K-Electric in 2005, and we still pay a subsidy – about 170 billion rupees for the current year – so if we are…”
“That’s because of the tariff equalization policy and…”
“And no one can change that, you know, if they change it, protests will break out where the tariff is higher and…”
“I see what you mean when you said up and down, not left, right and centre.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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