EVERY year a new price spiral is triggered by the budget, taxes, fuel prices and depreciation of the rupee, etc. The economy remains hamstrung by rising debt servicing and imports.

While most Asian developing countries have made it to the threshold of the developed world in three to four decades, we are still struggling to get out of the debt trap.

Water and electricity costs are out of reach making agriculture and industry production uneconomical. Everything is being imported from China.

Two big dams are being constructed after a gap of five decades, which is too little too late. Highly qualified personnel are migrating to developed countries instead of working to develop Pakistan.

We urgently need home-grown scientists, economists and a visionary leader to get us out of this rut.

Asif Jah

Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2018