Fatima Abdullah,
Sheeza Sajjad Mazari
This year, Pakistan’s economic conditions will surely be in the spotlight after the outbreak of Covid situation in India and Afghanistan being captured by the Talibans’. Pakistan is trying hard to beat the odds, but it is expected that 2022 will be all doom and gloom if Pakistan just survives instead of revising and implementing the strategiesof state. The opposition leaders claimed that leading party, PTI, lacks necessary capabilities to fix the economic conditions and has lost any sympathy it gathered from the general public.
In spite of the sufferings faced by the Pakistani families, they are still brave enough to put their trust in the leading party. If there is any development spotted in the current noxious conditions, there is still hope that the general public might turn a blind eye to the reckless affairs of the ruling party.
Khurram Dastgir Khan, the opposition leader, is bemused at the dearth of the public fury. According to him, the economy is towards destruction due to the default in industrial sectors. He also highlighted the issue of income disparity that has intensified in the past three years.
As far as bilateral events are concerned, China has openly expressed disappointment over the handling of CPEC affairs in Pakistan due to the mismanagement of security arrangementsin the project area, which is under the supervision of technical advisor, Khalid Mansoor. If the PTI team takes regular control of the area and track down the defamers, there is still a chance that the ball starts rolling again.
Apart from that, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have borne a huge loss due to the Covid-19 lockdown. According to the research, this pandemic has shattered many economies of the world, including Pakistan. Many SMEs businesses and startups which were closed down because of the pandemic could never make it back. The government did try to help these businesses by stimulating bank loans, but more direct involvement is required to support small businesses.
Moreover, there are still opportunities for the manufacturing and service sectors to increase their efficiency and begin exporting commodities to the world, after the restrictions on exports due to the accessibility of export surpluses. However, some advancement was surely observed as the advisor on commerce diligently got involved with the business community but for long-term favorable conditions it depends on the output of manufacturing industries. At the same time, there were efforts made to hold down the imports, but it could not last for longer period as soon there was a need detected for resources and equipment.
In short, the current government of our country needs to conduct a deep analysis of the current situation and rewrite the strategies for promoting investments, upgrading relationships with neighboring countries, especially China, design plans for motivating and supporting SMEs, also to promote exports and limit the imports. Of course, the list does not end here for the PTI government to improve the worse conditions of the economy.
