Invisible export

Pakistan is going through a serious economic crisis according to political leaders and parliamentarians on both sides of the divide. This opinion is shared by economists and financial experts as well as the media.

This is not surprising because the country has been living beyond its means most years of its existence. The shortfall is met through deficit financing, borrowing both in the internal market and external market comprising the IMF, ADB and sometimes, rarely, loans from other countries with easy repayment schedules. But most often, the country carries the ‘kashkol’ to the IMF which imposes stringent terms for the release of the amount. The situation is no different now than it had been from time to time in the past, stated simply, it means that the government has to spend more than it earns.

The earnings of a government come from taxation and the picture of taxes in Pakistan presents a sad situation about the country without a tax culture. In Pakistan, 0.57 percent of the population pays direct taxes as against over 2 percent in India, 66 percent in the US and 56 percent in the UK. When former prime minister Moin Qureshi brought out the first directory of income taxpayers, I found that as a humdrum school administrator, I paid more taxes than a former prime minister (Benazir Bhutto, her spouse Asif Ali Zardari and her mother Nusrat Bhutto). When I raised this point at a forum, some in the audience jeered and asked “Why do you pay taxes?”

Another sad commentary on our situation is that our exports (mainly consumer goods) outstrip our exports (mainly capital goods). In the absence of required expertise and backward manufacturing processes, our capital goods are not in demand in the international market. Besides, the cost and scale of production is unsuitable to compete with any effectiveness on the global scale.

Some relief could be made through inward remittances of Pakistani nationals settled and working overseas. This is very limited and restricted to the basic needs of their family members in Pakistan. They just do not have the motivation to send more or invest in their home country on account of political will or faith in the system that could safeguard their hard-earned income.

Is there a way out of this quagmire? Yes, by promoting inward tourist traffic in Pakistan. That is presently just 1.75 million according to a survey conducted in 2017.

Why should tourist traffic visit Pakistan? For lovers of nature places like the Swat and Chitral valleys, Gilgit and Hunza are among the most beautiful and unspoilt areas of the world amidst the highest peaks including Nanga Parbat, the world’s second highest mountain while the largest glaciers are irresistible sights for the discerning tourists. Indeed, projecting Pakistan is like projecting the world to the people of the world. It has everything and more. Much, much more!

Where else but in Pakistan can one find people that are amazingly diverse in physical appearance and culture, bound together by a strong thread of nationhood and faith? Where else can one find people who weave the finest carpets, embroidery or produce leather-ware, onyx articles, exquisite brass and copperware, gold and silver jewellery, pottery and woodwork? Where else in the world do people observe cultural and religious functions with greater gusto and arrange more colourful marriages?

Another dimension of tourist promotion is that it generates goodwill and friendship among people of the world. No one will deny that there is no greater war than the one fought between Germany and UK/ France or between Japan and the US. Yet, no one will deny that Americans are raining dollars over the cities of Japan where they were once dropping atom bombs and there are more German tourists in England and France than German soldiers encircling the two European neighbours.

For Pakistan, to succeed in the effort to get a foothold in the global tourism market that is ahead of the international market in size, magnitude and potential for earnings there has to be a change in mindset. No longer should a deputy director of PTDC say that our religion is against travel, holiday and the good things of life when the contrary is true or a clergyman protest the building of a lakeside resort in Muzaffarabad saying askance, “What! And have the gora men and women walk around in swimsuits and corrupt our youth?”

The foreign exchange earned through tourism does not need the country to export food grains or consumable items and thus raise prices in the domestic market or export capital goods or machinery that supports industrial growth in the country.

Tourism earns valuable foreign exchange and creates a healthy balance of payment situation for the host country.

The writer is a freelance contributor.