Pakistan’s economy has always been under intense pressure since the 1970s. Due to incessant political interference, we were unable to make a long-term economic plan for development. There has always been a short-term plan just to appease a small segment of political class.
We need a long-term economic plan to develop our country which requires economic models. Unfortunately, we have been unable to make any effective economic models or implement them. We need to focus on how to reduce the cost of living and give people a quality life.
For several years, a new trend has developed of giving charity to poor people in many countries. This is welcoming but cannot be considered as economic development. We need to provide employment work to the people so that they may earn and live a respectable life rather than depending on handouts by the government.
Billions of rupees spent on giving money to people can be spent on developing the struggling industries and generating employment which will, in turn, develop the economy. The government has failed to run state-owned enterprises on merit and instead of developing an institution, we either privatize or sell these companies resulting in more unemployment. The government has never acknowledged its failures and continues to run these white elephant and loss-making enterprises.
If we want to develop our country, the government should first educate the people and then develop skilled labourers. We have a huge youth population which remains our biggest asset. We need to invest in our youth and our country will develop.
Private companies are based on the principles of profit maximization and will keep on increasing prices if there is no competitor or any mechanism to control them. The government should instead set up industries in all sectors so that the private sector should not dominate and take excessive rates from customers.
The government has no functioning steel mill at the moment and private organisations are taking advantage of the situation and selling reaping heavy profits. This affects all aspects of development and allied industries such as the cement and construction sector.
The government should develop and restructure the existing companies to make them into profitable enterprises. It should build more government industries to prevent the private sector from making hefty profits at the expense of the common man and stop blackmailing the government in the future to gain undue advantages.
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