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The country’s economy is in absolute shambles. Pakistan is inching closer to a default on foreign debt servicing as aid and loans flows have started to dry up. PTI has postponed the long march and announced resignations, while the ruling coalition is doing what it has been doing for the last eight months; criticizing Imran Khan.
In addition to criticizing Imran Khan, the PML-N led government tells us everything is hunky-dory. But that’s not the case, is it? Just this week, The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Friday raised its benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points to 16 percent — the highest ever since 1999. Finance ministry said on Tuesday in its monthly outlook that the current account deficit is $2.8 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. Pakistan faces a huge economic challenge in the face of devastating floods, which are estimated to have caused more than $30 billion in losses. And CPI-based inflation jumps in October, clocks in at 26.6%, while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants Pakistan to cut expenditure as it conducts the ninth review of a $7 billion bailout program.
Report further said that remittances continue to decline. In July-October this year, these remittances fell to $9.9 billion, down 8.6 per cent from $10.827bn in July-October last year. If the declining trend continues, total remittances in FY23, ending in June, would remain close to $30bn, lower than the $31bn that flowed in FY22.
The current regime took over the government about 8 months ago. And masses will remember when the former Prime Minister Imran Khan was in power, the common man was facing inflationary pressure despite the country having current account surplus. PTI would blame increasing international commodity prices for the country’s inflation. But PDM leaders would berate Imran Khan, saying PTI government is hiding its own incompetence by shifting the blame to international inflation. And now the PDM leaders in their own government tell us the inflation is due to the global commodity prices.
The question is, when the people sitting in power will do something about the crushing inflation that has been suffocating the common man instead of just shifting the blame around.
