According to experts, Pakistan will have to spend $22 billion a year on debt servicing as the foreign loans are likely to pile up to $110 billion in the next four years. The government has said goodbye to the International Monetary Fund, but will have to revert to it keeping in view the pace of heavy borrowings from foreign donor agencies. The external debt are expected to increase to around $100 billion from the current $73 billion only in the next two years. The government already has to pay a circular debt of $1.30 billion which has come as a new phenomenon in recent years.
The pathetic part of the situation is that the government is posing a rosy picture of the economy and is rejecting all the allegations raised by the opposition at any level. The finance minister is active, but only in revenue collections at the cost of the business and industry and the commerce minister has only one job to do that is to defend government policies and claiming that the economy is going on the right direction. As a matter of fact, it is the not the failure of the prime minister alone, but his entire team. Despite all the economic indicators are in the favour of the economy, the government has failed to reap benefit in any of the economic sectors.
The so-called experts from the opposition do not waste any opportunity to criticize the government, but offered nothing to the country when they were part of the government in previous years. It is easy to criticize anything but difficult to deliver at the time of need. The present government has at least contained inflation and resisted all efforts aiming at devaluation of Pakistani rupee. The government has learnt an easy method to run the country’s affairs by taking loans and taking further loans to pay the previous loans. The country cannot be developed on the basis of foreign loans. Instead, the government should encourage foreign and local investment in various fields of the economy. The economic corridor is operational now and European investors should be invited to invest in the industrial zones in the country. The exports are falling and trade deficit are widening. This situation is leading to economic disaster. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government so far has failed to fulfill even one promise. The electricity load shedding is still haunting domestic and industrial consumers and law and order is at its lowest ebb. Bomb blasts are sending wrong signals to the international investors who want to invest in Pakistan.
The people want actions and not words. Enough is enough. The government must take tough decisions to boost business, trade and industrial activities in the country.
