It is indeed a matter of great satisfaction that country’s sovereign bonds and rupee gained on Thursday, with the 2027 and 2024 maturities hitting a 10-month and over-a-year high respectively, after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $3 billion bailout for the country. One of the global rating agencies, Fitch, has already upgraded country’s rating in recent days.

These developments have helped cause a positive sentiment in the market, so to speak. While the stock exchange is now quite bullish, PKR has begun to make gains against the USD. The announcement by prime minister Shehbaz Sharif that the incumbent government would hand power over to caretakers next month ahead of the general election has also immensely contributed towards efforts aimed at resolving the protracted political-economic impasse in the country.

Having said that, I would like to urge all the political stakeholders to ensure that the gains made in recent days and weeks need to be preserved and protected at all cost in larger interest of this country and its people. The present government must make efforts aimed at reducing inflation and price hike. Steps must be taken to reduce political polarization. It is a widely known fact that political polarization is a marked political division in the population, characterized by multiple manifestations.

Political divisions, in our case, are only deepening. Needless to say, polarization harms both democracy and society and severe polarization makes democracy vulnerable. Given the country’s vast economic potential, a stable political culture can put us on the path of prosperity so that we can ultimately attain economic self-reliance.

Haider Abbas Naqvi (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023