“This is really what sacrificing one’s political capital by taking economically extremely challenging conditions is all about!”

“What? The 1.8 trillion agricultural package?”

“That reflects the economic team leader’s perception that the general public has very little understanding of basic economics.”

“I don’t get it! Shehbaz Sharif announced it with Dar seated on his left…””

“Didn’t Dar always sit on the right of Nawaz Sharif?”

“A Biblical proverb advises not to swerve to the left or right but look straight ahead…”

“Anyway the bulk of this so-called agricultural package is loans by the commercial banking sector to, one would assume, mainly parliamentarians as the poor farmers have neither the collateral nor the capacity to fill out forms to get a loan – this happened in the past and nothing points to a change…”

“OK and Dar has also allowed the rich exporters electricity at 19.99 rupees per unit, inclusive of taxes, while you and I pay 40 rupees per unit. This will anger the general public, where votes are, this will anger the International Monetary Fund which will imply cessation of the 42 plus billion dollars in pledged roll-overs and additional external loans – money that is budgeted as the requirement for the current year…”

“And the discount rate is 15 percent while headline inflation is around 10 percent more than the discount rate which means rate of return is negative…”

“OK so what decision has been taken recently to justify the claim that the country is embarked on the road to economic sustainability?”

“For your information I wasn’t referring to Dar and his set of flawed policies but Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who intends to slash expenditure and raise taxes but support the truly vulnerable, not the rich…”

“Hmmmm, Dar was in the UK for five years – I wish he had enrolled in a University there to get a BA degree in economics…”

“If wishes were horses, pigs could fly.”

“But the original proverb is if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”

“Beggars do ride in this Land of the Pure - beggars on our streets have reportedly a higher income inflow than the salaried and they don’t pay taxes either, the beggars who use influence to get subsidies/rebates/exemptions are also beggars of sorts but in Mercedes, then there…”

“Hmmmm.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022