Crisis management

Lack of political will, incompetence and failure to accept ground realities haunt our economy. To meet the challenges posed by the grave economic crisis, we need qualified economists at the helm to undertake remedial measures and achieve a balanced budget. Furthermore, the state must levy taxes on all sources of income with targeted subsidies only for the poor, instead of unfunded amnesty schemes for the affluent elite. Even the IMF has been forced to point out these glaring injustices.

Unfortunately, years of mismanagement and the incompetence of those at the helm since 1958 have landed Pakistan in a mess. A self-sufficient economy has been reduced to a country facing acute shortages of everything from energy, food and medicines to forex. We cannot keep relying on foreign loans to pay for all of this.

Malik Tariq Ali

Lahore