According to newspaper reports, the government is again looking for more loans from international financial institutions and has recently obtained a $500 million loan from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to stop the foreign currency reserves from slipping to a dangerous level.With acquiring the fresh foreign loan,the total foreign borrowings in the first four months of the current fiscal year have crossed $1 billion. Reports suggest the government has already taken approval from parliament to get over a billion dollar loans till June of the current fiscal year, but it has reached the limit with eight months of the year still remaining. This practice shows how the government is throwing the nation into the quagmire of loans, debts and grants without practically doing anything to boost business, trade and industry. The government is being run on the basis of loans from one source to another. If this is the method of running the government, the coming generations will not come out of debt trap for centuries and the financial institutions will prove to be another East India Company for Pakistan. It is unfortunate that none of the minister or parliamentarian hasraised voice against the acceptance of loanswhich the government is acquiring every other day and week and month.
The political parties are involved in tug of war with one another and judiciary is trying to bring corrupt politicians to book. However, judiciary and army cannot repair all the damages and it is the whole nation which has to raise voice against failed economic policies. The commerce and trade ministry always makes tall claims that it will enhance exports, but instead of encouraging the export of value added goods, it concentrates on the export of food items which the country need more than any other country does. According to the world food institutions, Pakistan is facing food shortage and in this situation, export of the food items belies any logic and reason.It is the time the government should devise a comprehensive policy, covering all aspects of the economy, including imports and exports. Presently, all the government policies are seemed to be foreign to one another. There is also no coordination within the ministries, including commerce and finance ministries. Rather there is also lack of coordination within different sections of the same ministry. This situation only leads to mismanagement and administrative failure.
