The state structure should be shortened

There is no possibility of change in the situation of change in the economic sector. Despite the government’s repeated claims, the chances of assistance from international financial institutions seem to be diminishing. The newspaper reports indicate that there will be further delays in the resumption of the IMF program for Pakistan.

According to these reports, the ninth review of the IMF is still incomplete and now the eleventh review has been implemented. It has been stated that the revival of the program should be done before crossing the target line by June 30, 2023 in this financial year. According to these reports, the 10th review was due last February which was not completed.

The IMF maintains that it is awaiting confirmation of external financing requirements. Although Pakistan has guaranteed $3 billion in foreign investment from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, $2 billion from the IMF World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). 90 crores seeking confirmation of supply.

Thus, the fact becomes clear that without the additional financing of 3 billion dollars from the IMF, the IMF staff level agreement was not to be made. In the absence of an agreement with the IMF, the foreign exchange reserves have reduced to 4 billion dollars.

On the other hand, by increasing the value of the dollar and reducing subsidies in various terms on the demand of the IMF, inflation has increased rapidly. According to the report of the American newspaper Bloomberg, the inflation rate in Pakistan has reached 36.4%, thus Pakistan has become the most expensive country in South Asia.

In this situation, the purchasing power of the common man is severely affected. The festival of Eid is a religious festival, but it is also a festival of happiness, so there is traditionally a lot of shopping on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr. Every day is a shopping day for the wealthy class, but millions of families belonging to the middle and lower middle class spend the whole year shopping on this festival, but this year the purchasing power of consumers is very low. has been low.

Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Multan, Hyderabad and other cities did not see the traditional bustle in the markets. Officials of various traders’ associations estimated that this year there was only 30 percent purchase compared to previous years. Several journalists said that this time in the last week of Ramadan, there was no traffic disruption due to the lack of rush in the main bazaars of Karachi.

Prime Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif himself in his message on the occasion of May Day acknowledged the fact that the working class is under severe economic pressure due to inflation. If those who built the building based on labor are deprived of the fruits, it will fall apart. Although the Prime Minister in his message asserted that making workers a part of the global economy is our main challenge, the Prime Minister has no recipe for improving the conditions of workers and controlling inflation. .

Experts in international financial affairs believe that one of the main reasons behind the IMF’s policy of exhausting Pakistan is Pakistan’s non-support of the US position in the war between Russia and Ukraine and its continued economic linkage with China.

This is the reason why a secret document was published in American newspapers last week. A perusal of this document shows that Pakistan and a few other countries have distanced themselves greatly from the US policy in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

In the audio conversation that appeared in Washington, Minister of State Hina Rabbani Khar, during the conversation with the Prime Minister, called China a real strategic participant, saying that there is no room for middle ground in US-China relations. Another memo tells an aide to the prime minister that talks with Russia on trade and energy are ongoing. Western countries’ support for the resolution on the Ukraine issue could put relations at risk. 31 countries including Pakistan did not exercise their right to vote on this occasion.

Last week, Pakistan signed an oil supply agreement with Russia. At the same time, there have been reports from Washington that Pakistan has requested the Biden administration to lift the previous Trump administration’s embargo on military aid to Pakistan. While commenting, he said that America is giving more importance to the recovery of Pakistan’s economy.

Pakistan should take steps to revive its economy in collaboration with the IMF. A very important thing in this whole scenario is that India also did not support the US resolution in the Ukraine-Russia conflict and India is continuously buying oil from Russia, but it is not affected by any American pressure.

This situation needs to be seen in the context of the changing world situation, ignoring the conspiracy theory that Pakistan as a Muslim country is a victim of conspiracy. It is a fact that Pakistan became an ally of America under the ideology of the founder of Pakistan, Barrister Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

In the 1950s, due to the war in Korea, industrial development took place in Pakistan. During Ayub Khan’s reign, boxes of dry milk were distributed under the title Thank You America. During the reign of General Zia-ul-Haq, the US and European countries gave billions of dollars in aid to the Afghan war. Some of the militants became religious groups and the leaders of these religious groups earned millions of dollars.

After 9/11, General Pervez Musharraf’s government became part of the Second Afghan War. Then there was a rain of dollars but nothing happened to build the economy on real basis, but in the last 10 years many changes took place in this region. India has made amazing progress in the field of information technology. India’s middle class has now come out of poverty.

Oil reserves in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates began to decrease, so now Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have become India’s trading partners. In America, former President Trump raised the question that the tax money of American citizens should be spent on poor countries. Pakistan signed the CPEC agreement with China, thereby increasing China’s dependence on Pakistan’s economy. American policy makers are beginning to recognize this situation as dangerous.

On the one hand, the political crisis is increasing, now political analysts say that the parliament and the judiciary have come face to face and Tehreek-e-Insaf is again preparing to protest on the streets. On the other hand, the government is not ready to downsize the state structure. Most of the budget is still spent on non-productive expenditure.

With the passage of time, not only the protocol of the President and the Prime Minister became important, but the protocol of the Chief Ministers, civil and non-civil officers, began to defeat the protocol of the United Kingdom and the United States. Despite the advice of global economic experts, no government is ready to take basic steps. The whole world agrees that Pakistan should improve its relations with India and Iran.

Pakistan can improve its economy by improving relations with neighboring countries, but after 2016, when Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari went to Goa, it was already banned to limit his visit. The law and order situation in Balochistan province is becoming dangerous. The fishermen of the coastal city of Gwadar are continuously protesting to protect their jobs, so the positive results of CPEC, such a big industrial project, are not coming out.

In order to solve the crisis of the economy, it is necessary to solve the problem of Balochistan immediately, 60% of the next budget should be spent on education, health and development of resources, and the state structure should be shortened, so that the country will be recognized by international organizations. Can avoid blackmailing.