- Painful years ahead
The failure on the part of the PTI and its patrons to take timely decisions is responsible for the dire situation being faced by the nation. The PTI leadership has proved that it has no perception of ground realities, no clear policies on vital issues and absolutely no vision. The way it has messed up things has pushed the country into a bleak situation with a low growth rate, a rising debt burden, low investor confidence, high unemployment and spiralling poverty. The trend is likely to persist for the next two to three years.
The IMF package belatedly sought by the PTI is likely to be announced after the Fund is satisfied that its demands have been met to its satisfaction in the forthcoming budget. The agreement was brokered without being put before the Cabinet, let alone the National Assembly.
The rupee has continued to fall with US dollar touching an all-time high at Rs 150 on Friday. Even if the decline stops here it has already played enough havoc with the economy. Had the decision to take recourse to the IMF been taken right after the PTI took over, the big slide in the rupee could have been avoided with everyone knowing the course the government was going to take.
The KSE-100 plunged nearly 900 points in intra-day trading on Friday as investors offloaded stocks following the devaluation of rupee in inter-bank market. The market would stabilize with time but who will cover the big losses incurred by thousands of small investors?
Highly worrisome for the business community, the investors and the common man are the uncertainties related to the FATF decision. A further downgrading would endanger Pakistan’s relations with the IMF and private international banks. With downgraded ranking by international rating agencies, it might not remain feasible to launch government securities.
Why was the decision delayed to place 10 more organisations on the list of proscribed outfits, till days before a Pakistan team led by the finance secretary left for a face-to-face meeting with the APG? The action according to Interior Ministry was taken in pursuance of the National Action Plan (NAP). But the NAP was put into action years back in January 2015.
