A fractured economy

Every government, right after assuming power, declares that the national exchequer is empty and the economy is in a shambles. Despite vowing to do away with run-of-the-mill solutions to stabilise the economy, almost every government does what its predecessors had already done. Traditionally, our leaders have heavily relied on borrowing without paying any attention to capacity building. For example, the outgoing government borrowed heavily to spend on mega projects for self-glorification than on investing in public sectors for the betterment of people. Nawaz Sharif, in his first stint as prime minister, made tall claims to break the shackles of debt and initiated the ‘Qarz Utaro Mulk Sanwaro’ scheme. We could not break the begging bowl as his government didn’t make any effort to introduce land reforms and distribute the land to the poor who could have converted the barren land into an arable one. The current government is in the grip of a financial crisis and struggling hard to seek help from friendly countries. The opposition parties taunt it for ‘begging’ without realising that there is no way out of this vicious circle until we build capacity and strong infrastructure that creates an economy which can stand on its own feet.

Raja Shafaatullah

Islamabad