Out of control economy

The revival of the economy has been the biggest challenge for every government for the past approximately one and a half decades. However, during this period, amidst exceptions like the Nawaz Sharif government, every subsequent government has proven the proactive government to be better through its unsuccessful policies, mismanagement, and disappointing performance.

It’s as if the situation resembles an Arab fable about the son of a shroud thief. It’s said that there was a shroud thief in a certain area. As soon as someone passed away, they would be buried, and on the second or third day, the shroud thief would dig up the grave and steal the shroud of the deceased. People were greatly troubled by this situation. Some time later, when the shroud thief passed away, his son took up his “profession.” However, he introduced such brutality in his work that people started to cry out.

The son of the shroud thief’s “brutality” was not only about digging up graves and stealing shrouds but also involved desecrating the deceased. When the local people saw these events, they started praying for the earlier shroud thief (the father) that at least he didn’t mistreat their deceased loved ones.

With Pakistan’s economy, a similar experience has been ongoing for some time. Every government raises the flag of economic revival, managing the country, but after a while, instead of the economy improving due to government policies, it plunges further into distress, causing people’s lives to become even more challenging. Consequently, people reminisce about the previous government, recalling that the situation was not as dire during that time.

In 2018, PTI and Imran Khan were brought to power with great fanfare, claiming they would eradicate corruption, retrieve the looted wealth of the nation stashed abroad, revive the economy, and lead the country on a path of prosperity and progress. However, amidst the resounding echoes of these appealing and lofty promises, when PTI came into power and tried to stabilize the system, in a short period, the outcome of their unsuccessful economic policies became evident in the worsening economic conditions.

Gradually, the failure to revive the economy became a noose around the PTI government’s neck, leading to the end of their government.

In place of PTI, PML-N’s leadership handed over the reins to the PTI’s arch-rival, the alliance of PDM, with the hope that it would rectify the losses the PTI government caused in the economy in the near future. However, this government, in the name of economic recovery, elicited such cries from the people that made them nostalgic for the ‘former shroud thief’, and people began reminiscing about the PTI era.

When the PDM government reached its extreme, the economy was in further ruins, and the public was in a terribly distressed state. However, in the ongoing transitional phase of the caretaker government, undoubtedly due to some strict administrative measures of powerful institutions, the economy seems to be stabilizing to some extent. It appears that in comparison to the previous government, the current government is displaying better performance.

Former Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, addressing a press conference in Karachi, said the caretaker government is not anxious. However, some time ago, when the dollar was not being controlled, Finance Minister Shaukat, upon witnessing uncontrollable economic conditions, had shown clear signs of distress and anxiety. Today, when he states that the interim government is not anxious, undoubtedly the government’s performance is also confirming this.

The measures taken by institutions to control the fluctuation of the dollar not only resulted in a significant decrease in its value but also gradually began showing its effects in various sectors of the economy. There was a decrease in the price of petrol, and the impact of the decrease in the dollar’s value was visible in the prices of essential commodities. Moreover, as a result of the lower dollar rate, the volume of national debts also significantly decreased, which is a favorable situation.

Overall, there is now hope that the economy cannot be derailed and that if the measures to control the dollar’s speed continue with further intensity, the economy will soon be back on track.

However, it seems in the past few days that there is a delay in the sequence of measures and the arrangements have somewhat slackened because the dollar has once again begun to rise. It is necessary to bring further speed and strictness in the measures initiated to control the pace of the dollar; otherwise, the revival of the economy will remain a dream, and very soon Finance Minister Shaukat’s anxious days may return. It’s now clear that the life of Pakistan’s partially revived economy is hanging on the dollar. If it is not controlled, it will choke the economy.