News are circulating in the media that the government is considering floating another Eurobond to raise around $1 billion to arrest the fast depletion foreign currency reserves. Only two months ago, the government had issued two international sovereign bonds worth $2.5 billion and the move not only shacked the entire financial system, but economic stability of the country. As the aftermath of the bonds, rupee has considerably been depreciated but the government is still in a state of denial that the shakeup has to do anything with the bonds. The government had earlier spent a lot of money to lure the potential investors to buy the bonds and the move to float another bond could prove fatal for the already fragile economy. It is difficult to understand who the consultants are in the official cadre with such a myopic vision that they could not see any option beyond loans, grants and bonds. The country has already been curving sharply under the debt burden and instead of offering any stimulation package for business and industry; the government is looking for options to ride gravy train. It appears the desperation of the financial managers is leading the nation toward further chaos.
Unfortunately, every government in Islamabad has tried to do makeshift arrangements. Ad hocism has marred the shape and working of ministries, departments and institutions. Policies are made to find short-term solutions, but they always left long-term imprints and scars on the face of the economy. The new international bonds, which the policymakers insist are the next phase of the previous bonds, will probably be floated this month. The first phase bonds caused depreciation of rupee by ten percent and no one knows what disaster the new bonds will bring to the national economy. On another note, the oil prices have declined in the international market, but have been raised in Pakistan. People are made to pay a wholesale quantity of indirect taxes, which are adversely affecting the standard of living not only of common man, but also of the middle class. Where ‘experienced team’ of the PML-N is which it had claimed before elections and where are the investors who had promised to invest in Pakistan. Instead, the government could not stop the capital flight which is continuing one way or the other even today. The only way to bring the nation from economic mess is to devise long-term policies and the government should now stop sacrificing the nation on the altar of its short term goals.
