Country’s state of economy

Noted economist Dr Hafiz A Pasha has touched upon a key subject of public finances in one of recent op-ed articles for this newspaper. He has started his argument on a highly somber but realistic and objective note as he points out that “the primary concern is today very much with the largest current account deficit ever of $ 18 billion. There is not yet much appreciation of the fact that the year, 2017-18, has also seen the largest fiscal deficit in the history of Pakistan of Rs 2260 billion. Therefore, we have today a very acute state of destabilization of the national economy and an incipient financial crisis. There is need to appreciate that the ‘twin’ deficits are linked to each other. A large fiscal deficit raises aggregate demand in the economy and fuels the demand for larger imports. This aggravates the size of the current account deficit.” The irony is that the PML-N government, which is responsible for the present state of economy, was taking every possible step or misstep to cause harm to country’s economic indicators with a sense of pride and a lot of confidence. Ishaq Dar and his successor Miftah Ismail must therefore come up with some plausible explanation. Miftah Ismail must come forward and take the responsibility.

Islamabad Ahmad Waheed