Despite hundreds of ups and downs in political and economic matters, ad-hocism remained the only policy which has constantly been pursued in Pakistan since independence. Every government institution and agency is running on ad hoc basis and every policy and programme is the product of this policy. As a result, the nation is far from achieving the cherished goal of prosperity, but the people still fed with daily promises of good days. The government after governments and leaders after leaders have ruled this nation and made it a testing ground for every experiment. Hundreds of industrial, trade and business policies are introduced in the country but all failed at the end. When ad hocism is the base of every policy, the wheel of development will refuse to move beyond a certain limit and this is the cause of failure of every programme in this country. Ishaq Dar, whose current status as the finance minister is held in abeyance, always claimed of the achievement of macroeconomic stability during his years of activeness, but no sooner he left the office, the facade of the financial gains collapsed. Now the government is weighing options to go into another loan programme with International Monetary Fund or wade through a sea of troubles in the coming months. What the most terrible option used by the current government is the depreciation of Pakistani rupee.
The government is looking for new options to salvage the economy and next elections are also in hand. How will it cope with the emerging situation is unclear as it has no capacity or mandate to introduce long-term policies or reforms. In the absence of its boss, the Finance Ministry appeared to be struggling to create funds for the next federal budget. A new adviser has been appointed to look after the financial matters, but he has too short time to comprehend the messy affairs. The financial situation will not be improved until long-term policies are adopted and it can only be possible until the states institutions are depoliticized. Until now, the government dossiers are the dumping ground of failed policies and there appears not a single person in the government ranks with ability to extricate the economy from quicksand of troubles. As makeshift arrangements, the government has been accepting loans from all directions without giving least care to the possible threats to the basis of the economy in the country.
