Staying afloat

The incumbent finance minister has boldly admitted that our economy is in serious trouble. According to him, the country will continue to struggle economically in the next couple of years with lower than expected growth rates. Surprisingly, the worthy minister is of the view that the current inflationary trends will hurt the rich and wealthy more than the poor. However, in reality, the rich class of the country seems to be insensitive to inflation and it is usually lower middle and working classes and the poor of the country who face the brunt of rise in prices.Though our finance minister did not allude to how much lower our growth will go, the figures recently projected by the ADP and the World Bank are in the dismal range of about 3 to 3.5 percent. The unstoppable downward spiral of the stock market also shows the lack of confidence of local and international investors in Pakistan’s economy. Ishaq Dar, the finance minister of the PML-N government tried to shield the poor from high inflation by strict monetary controls. On the contrary, Asad Umar and other ministers of the PTI government want people to face the situation courageously. Overall, the situation is worrisome, and the revival of the economy seems a Herculean task for the PTI government. There is no room for experimentation or delays. They need to sit down with the opposition parties to find out ways to get out of the financial crises in the national interest. Any delay might drag the country to bankruptcy.Raja ShafaatullahIslamabad*****Finance Minister Asad Umar said in a recent press conference said that our economy is like a patient in. ICU; it needs to be stabilised with the support of the IMF. However, due to that ordinary folks will have to suffer. At present, inflation is high and with the increase in the prices of petroleum products and electricity prices are likely to go even more out of control and pinch all consumers of basic necessities of life like food items, transportation and even medicines. There is general despondency and frustration among ordinary citizens with limited income. The finance minister has stated that this is only a temporary phase and the economy will soon stabilise .The government is taking measures to improve things by expanding the tax net, promoting exports etc. These measures will have a positive effect on the exchange rate and balance of payments. The galloping high US dollar /rupee will also stabilise at a reasonable level.We hope and pray that what the finance minister has stated turns out to be true and ordinary citizens do not have to suffer economic misery for long .In theory, the FM’s analysis is correct and one hopes that things will stabilise before long.Zaheer AhmedIslamabad

from The News International - Newspost http://bit.ly/2Ufaw6v