The economic crisis is getting from bad to worse with the passage of time. The day-to-day increase in the prices of daily-use items has made the lives of the poor miserable.
According to a World Bank report, 104 countries out of 183 are enjoying business facilities better than the business community in Pakistan enjoys. In the field of electricity, 115 countries are in a better position than Pakistan while corruption is the worst problem here and there is more corruption in our country as compared to 113 countries of the world.
The value of Pak rupee has decreased by 30% against dollar. Bread (Roti) is being sold at Rs 6 whereas it was selling at Rs 3 just four year ago. Pakistan is the sixth largest country in the world by population and over 200,000 educated youth are joining manpower annually whereas job opportunities are not increasing at the same ratio.
Foreign investment is at its lowest level. The government is running its business by printing notes and taking loans from the State Bank of Pakistan. It has borrowed more than Rs 442 billion in four years.
According to the national economic survey, there has been a tremendous increase in load shedding, poverty and inflation. According to the facts and figures, the rate of development is just 3.7% instead of 4.2%. Due to the increasing deficit, the repayment of Rs 442 billion has become difficult and will raise inflation further.
Keeping all the above-mention points in view, we find that future needs are not kept in mind before planning development projects in Pakistan. Conditions cannot be improved in Pakistan and inflation cannot be controlled in Pakistan until better policies are made and implemented properly.
An example of a better policy is the flyover bridge at Kalma Chowk Lahore because its cost will be recovered within one year due to saving of oil as thousands of vehicles had to stop at signals, consuming fuel; now it will be saved. On the other hand, the decoration grills and plants which were fixed on the completion of the flyover were removed just after a short period to make a runway for the fast moving buses presented by Turkey. Billions of rupees could be saved if no decoration work was done. I hope this practice would not be repeated in future.
HAFIZ MUHAMAD SHAWEAZ
Lahore