It was only recently that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told a delegation of Jefferies Group, an American multinational investment bank and financial services company, that his government was taking all the required steps to stabilise the country’s economy.

My question in this regard is: what steps has the incumbent government taken to arrest the country’s economic slide? In my view, it has done little or nothing because its approach to economic challenges is still in a muddle.

The so-called steps taken by it have only led to one thing: confusion. This confusion has added to political uncertainty in the country in a dangerous way, to say the least. The country’s economy is in shambles as inflation is soaring, unemployment is rising and investor confidence is ebbing, but the government is more concerned about its plan aimed at lingering its rule. More importantly, its flawed approach to the IMF programme has seriously hurt the prospects of upcoming scheduled disbursement of money by the Fund, giving birth to heightened risk of default. In sum, the PDM government’s rule has exhausted the entire nation.

M. Rashid Janjua (Lahore)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022