India likes that its neighbours should have healthy economy and stable politics but so far as our neighbour Pakistan is concerned, it is unfortunately reeling in deep political instability ,uncertainty and economic crisis. An economically and politically strong Pakistan is in the interest of India but the harsh truth is that our neighbour is facing worst political and economic crisis and the government of the Pakistan and its economists should sincerely try to take out their country from crisis in which she is finding her .It is not hidden from any one that the Pakistan is not only on the brink of economic and political crisis but is deep in it and it is not so easy to save the country from the crisis which she is facing because of the wrong policies and priorities of its government .The state of Pakistan is moving towards civil war and those at the helm of affairs in that country should take all necessary steps to ease the situation in Pakistan so that civil war conditions are averted.
The common people of Pakistan are amid economic and political crisis and they are suffering most due to the economic and political instability. Pakistan’s politics and economy is in shambles and it will not be an exaggeration to say that Pakistan is on the death bed and is thus on oxygen and it needs strenuous efforts to save the country from economic and political downfall. The over all condition of Pakistan is that of an terminally ill state and is worrying not only for its people but for its neighbours. Despite the bad condition of Pakistani political health and its failing economy that country is still busy in training and exporting terrorism to India and on this it spends its scarce money.
Pakistan has an increasing defense budget and so spends a significant 18% of its total GDP on defense and thus does not spend sufficient money on the much needed development of the country. Today the condition of Pakistan is so bad that there is shortage of food and other essentials and necessaries of life. Inflation is at a all time high and unprecedented. The inflation in the country is at 22 to 23% as such prices are skyrocketing and soaring. The common people are unable to purchase flour and the price of 15kg of Atta is 2150 rupees and there is rush of people at the shops selling Atta and there is also violence and struggle for purchasing flour and to quell the violence and crowed the police fired upon the people seen purchasing Atta and four innocent Pakistani’s have died due to firing and this is the condition of Pakistan.So for as other necessary goods and services are concerned these are also selling at very exorbitant rates and the people are not in a position to purchase rice pluses, tea ,sugar, eggs, potato ,tomato, onions, LPG cylinders and other items of daily need because of very high prices and it is beyond the paying capacity of the people to purchase the goods of daily use.
The poverty and inflation is very high and some poor people are forced to go to bed empty stomach. There is shortage of the essentials goods as well as services while the demand is also high but not commensurate with the shortage because the common people of Pakistan are poor and today they are facing difficulty in having two square meals a day and are hardly making their both ends to meet because of abject poverty and uncontrolled inflation. People want to buy but are unable to do so because the purchasing power of money is low and they are not in a position to purchase the necessaries of life. The people have scant money and thus they are in a difficulty to buy the goods they need to sustain them. Besides soaring prices of the goods and services has made life of the people hell because they are caught in high inflation and very low income. Pakistan is reeling in international debt as she has taken huge amounts of money from IMF,world bank,China,Saudi Arabia and the debt is mounting by each passing day and she is unable to liquidate its foreign debt.With the result it is overburdened by foreign debt and its foreign reserves are fast depleting and this is a very sorrowing situation in which Pakistan is caught all because of its policies and politics as the country does not pay any heed towards common Pakistani’s who are debt ridden and face difficulties in spending their days.
The political instability of Pakistan has deepened the economic crisis in that country and the common people are suffering while the all powerful military and its commanders are rolling in the wealth and this is the reality of Pakistan. Pakistan is on the verge of economic collapse due to depleting foreign exchange reserves and spiralling inflation, and the political instability in the country has further worsened the economic crisis.The general public has lost trust in the capability of the country’s economic managers to steer the country out of the crisis .On the other hand ,the political leaders of the country were engaged in political blame game and cross allegations of corruption charges against each other, while the country continues to slide. Valerio Fabbri, writing in Geopolitics ,information said that the incumbent multi-party coalition led by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz(PML-N) party faced a setback in July 2022 after losing elections in 20 constituencies in the Punjab province. Furthermore ,the credibility of the Shahbaz government was seriously dented when its efforts to retain power in the provience were foiled by Supreme Court ,which ordered the election of Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi ,an ally of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s to the position of chief minister. The political turmoil was further accentuated by the latest ruling of the Election Commission of Pakistan that former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his political party Pakistan Tehreek –e-Insaf (PTI) had violated campaign finance rules ,a funding that could lead to his disqualification from electoral politics.The economy had become the main issue driving voters sentiments in Pakistan. This was most evident in the losses the PML-N suffered in the recent Punjab elections.
The forex reserves of reserves of the country drooped to USD 8.2 billion. The rate of unemployment is reigning very high ,while inflation has skyrocketed. The depreciation of PKR still continues and the exchange rate peaked at PKR 225per USD. The supply and demand of the currencies depend on the trade deficit which has widened and debt servicing requirements had increased over time. Pakistans inability to arrest the falling value of its currency (PKR) is evident from the Finance Minister’s efforts to convince the KCCI members that neither the state Bank nor I have directly intervened to bring the dollar down. As the economic situation worsens the average citizen of Pakistan is suffering under the weight of the LFM mandated removal of energy subsidies and other measures besides unbridled inflation and steep depreciation of PKR against dollar.
The problem was that while the Pakistani economy is on edge ,the IMF has not yet released the next tranche of the Extended Fund Facility.At the same time ,Pakistani’s traditional partners such as Saudi Arabia ,UAE and China do not appear keen to shore up the country’s foreign reserves as in the past. That is because of the widely held perception that the Pakistani economy is a sinking boat and is traversing the path of Shri Lanka’s crisis-hit economy.The government has stated that the country will need around USD 5 billion by the end of financial year 2022-23 on top of the LMF loan, but nothing has come so far.The lack of bold and national policy response in a timely manner may accentuate the economic crisis which could further intensify political uncertainty. Islamabad’s frantic lobbying efforts for funds could be seen in the fact that Army Chief General Qamar Javad Bajawa tried to reach out to Saudi Arabia and the UAE as part of his efforts to pull the country out of the current economic crunch ,even after seeking USD 1.7 billion from the LMF.
The democracy in Pakistan is sham and for names sake only while the fact is that it is the military which is controlling its government from the beginning of the Pakistan. Pakistan is politically and economically instable and it requires managing it well in terms of politics and economics. But it is disturbing that while Pakistani leaders, rather than taking economically rational and hard decisions for structural reforms and shunning populist measures, are looking up for help from development partners. Islamabad is now looking up to repair its relationship with the US, but that will require rebalancing its ties with China. This is simple said than done. Rest government in Pakistan should take sincere and hard decisions to shore up its sinking economy and political instability and in this lies the good of Pakistan.
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