Shoddy budget

Once again, the government has presented an unrealistic tax-heavy budget. Sadly, in Pakistan revenues do not translate into state care and support for taxpayers like in the West. Taxpayer money often ends up in dubious, sparsely audited projects, endless recruitment to non-productive posts and paying for revenue losses from smuggling and imagined energy debts. A bottomless pit of sorts. Our pseudo economic crisis has strong causative elements of mismanagement, inadequate audit of oil, gas and electricity sectors and unrestrained smuggling. Had this been the ZA Bhutto era, these power companies making billions and currency speculators would have been on the verge of nationalization.

Today, our economic independence is being threatened by the IMF whose emphasis appears to be on continuous devaluation of third world currencies. Measures like blocking sims and preventing non-filers from travelling might lead to street unrest, in full view of our hostile neighbours. A country with around seven million expatriates sending money scrambling around for a billion dollar loan/bailout tells of a failed system and poor management. The finance minister has not delivered prosperity but crippling taxation.

M Shaikh

Islamabad