An Economic Quagmire

While opposition politicians press for elections, experts demand real-time austerity, no matter who is in power

Karachi: Political parties and Sindhi nationalists are planning widespread agitations against the government over the runaway inflation that is killing the purchasing power of the people and may cause food insecurity among the lower sections of the society. Most political leaders say that general elections are a solution of the problem. But economic experts believe that public agitations caused by the runaway inflation are likely to worsen the political and economic logjam.

Bol News spoke to a number of opposition politicians and an economic expert to solicit their analysis of the situation, and the options available to help end or slow down the economic downspin that the country is facing.

Anis Qaimkhani, senior leader Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan

MQM-P will stage a march in Hyderabad during the third week of March to protest inflation and the corrupt rulers of Sindh. The party will hold a big public meeting before by-elections in Karachi. The Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2023 has broken the back of the poor and the needy. It is not our domain to dub someone as corrupt. It is for the judiciary to judge them. But those that the judiciary declared corrupt yesterday are seen as perfectly clean today.

As regards our economic meltdown, everyone knows that we have to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But IMF conditions will cause more inflation in the country. So, if the government wants to convince the masses about its good intentions, it must take serious austerity measures and cut down its administrative expenses.

But no such urgent austerity measures are in sight. For example, government functionaries continue to enjoy their perks, and so do the wealthy segments of society. People can see this, and that is why they don’t trust the government. Given the IMF conditions, it will take a few years for the country to put itself on the right track. As such, I think the general elections should be held on time so as to restore the people’s confidence and bring about political and economic stability in the country.

Asadullah Bhutto, Central Vice-President Jamaat-e-Islami

JI is the only party in the country which keeps protesting over public issues such as inflation, unemployment, bad national economy, corruption, injustices and social ills. Reducing the size of the cabinet and cutting down on government expenses are the only solutions available during these testing time.

The more loans the government takes from the IMF, the higher the inflation will rise. So why are the rulers determined to get more loans? The truth is, all rulers are slaves of the IMF. Some are calling for general elections, others are pleading for power, but no one is eager to resolve the problems of the people.

Ever since Pakistan’s creation, every government has proven to be worse than the previous one. Successive rulers have deluded the voters to come to power, but once in power, their priorities become different. The JI demands general elections to bring the true representatives of the masses to power, so that they can serve the people and take the country out of the challenges it faces at the moment.

Syed Zain Shah, President Sindh United Party

SUP is holding the Sindh March for multiple reasons. Apart from rising inflation, there are political, economic and social issues that are haunting Sindh province under a corrupt government of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Let me say that PPP is a cancer which must be rooted out.  We are conveying a message to the people that if they want development and prosperity in Sindh, they have to root out the PPP from politics. We started our 33-day Sindh March from Sukkur on 15 February, and it will end outside the Karachi Press Club on 19 March. The powerful establishment of the country decided to remove the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government from power and replace it with a “puppet” coalition. It was not a good decision, as it caused further challenges like the resurgence of terrorism in the country. If the PTI government had continued in power, the country today would be stable both politically and financially.

If the government intends to come out of the political crisis, it should hold the general elections forthwith. If it wants to end its economic challenges, it should revise its economic and foreign policies completely. The establishment must go neutral, and accountability institutions must work without any discrimination. If our policies are made in the USA, however, we will never ever be able to put our country on the right track.

Dr Syed Rifaat Hussain, senior analyst

I don’t expect any political stability in coming days. Protests against inflation are likely to intensify. All those parties that are out of power – such as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), MQM-P, JI and others – will support these protests and cause more problems to the government. It will be quite difficult to control such a situation.

The Rs 170 billion Finance (Supplementary) Bill which has been passed by the government, and which raised the general sales tax (GST) from 17% to 18% and as such will impact the prices of consumer goods, will further add to the chaos.

We have started implementing the conditions of the IMF, but until now we don’t know if the IMF will disburse the loan.

The government should slash the size of its cabinet from 85 to a maximum of 30 cabinet members so as to convince the people that it is really serious about addressing their issues. The dark economics of Ishaq Dar have totally failed. I expect the PDM will get the IMF loan, but rising protests may render it unable to prevent a default on its foreign debt obligations. Economic policies of the coalition government caused substantial unrest among the people. Their purchasing power has fallen significantly, and a majority of them are unable to buy cheap food items like pulses etc. Their food security is at risk. The situation is similar to that of Sri Lanka.