The treasury trap

The federal budget for the fiscal year 2019- 2020 is almost here, and God knows what it will bring for the people. The majority knows that this budget will not be an easy one nor it will favour any class in Pakistan. Also, the new agreement with the IMF is unclear to many as professionals claim this agreement will be an "economic assault" on Pakistan. Over the past three decades, Pakistan has been trying hard to fix its economic structure but what we see is that the country is unable to stand on its own and the burden of the economy is pushing it back quicker and faster. Moreover, less investments in development, infrastructure, health, education, gender, climate, and the research sector is impacting the country’s social structure.

Unfortunately, every political regime in Pakistan has promised good economic structural reforms but nothing has ever come out from this weak system. In today’s world, countries depend on their financial system and structure as it is known as a key to progress, power and prosperity. Sadly, our country has an old depressing history of an infirm economic system and elites who never tried hard to make Pakistan stronger financially. Now at this moment, Pakistan must think about a new approach to drive its economy from nowhere to somewhere. A comprehensive plan of action to save the middle and poor classes is a challenge for the financial team running the country. Along with that, plausible economic reforms in the area of taxation, housing, agriculture, health, employment, institutions, private sector, power and energy, import and export and mega-industries are required to minimise the deficit. On the other side, accountability, development of new financial tools, checks on the illicit trade of money, financial transparency etc are also a compulsive requirement to pull Pakistan out of its economic nightmares. To implement this action, I believe in political consensus, the role of parliament and maturity so that we can save Pakistan from further loans and financial burdens.

Syed Hamza Ahmed, Connecticut , USA