It’s a luxurious life

This refers to the news report ‘No urgency in going for IMF bailout: Asad’ (December 16) and ‘China may park $ 2 billion in Pakistan reserves this month’ (December 17). On one hand, the government is begging friendly countries for financial help and is in talks with the IMF for a bailout but is apparently upset with the harsh conditions being proposed as per media reports. On the other hand, it is squandering borrowed precious dollars on the import of luxury goods. This speaks volumes about the government’s austerity policy, which is touted as the corner stone of the PTI’s agenda. Is there any difference between this government and previous ones? The talk of creating a welfare state, so often repeated by the PM, comes out as a hoax, despite the best of the intentions. The incumbent government needs to engage the country’s eminent economists to manage the economic affairs. The public is waiting for the time when the axe of austerity would be applied on the import of luxury and non-essential foreign good, which is eating our scarce reserves.

Arif Majeed

Karachi