THE government has shifted the focus from economic growth to economic stabilisation as the country is facing one of the most severe economic crises in the wake of its recent negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

With much going wrong, one can understand that an immediate loan was imperative, but at what cost? The people are struggling to put food on the table owing to the soaring rate of inflation. A state is run the government, and the government is elected by the masses. Now if the masses are dying of hunger, what is the point of having a government?

There is an urgent need for the government to bring about better economic structural reforms favourable to the middle class of the country.

Faheem Iqbal
Karachi

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FOR a measly one-billion-dollar loan tranche, the conditionalities being enforced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are bound to kill the government and the people alike. The petroleum levy is to be gradually raised to Rs30 per litre, power rates are required to be raised, tax exemptions of Rs200 billion are to be scrapped, the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) has to take a hit worth Rs200bn, and then there is the non-financial condition of making the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) independent of government control. I say dump the IMF, and dump it with a bang. Our exports are rising, our non-traditional exports are increasing, new markets abroad are opening up, the IT exports are increasing and the non-resident Pakistanis are remitting more and more money. Pakistan should not agree to the string of IMF terms, which, I repeat, are sure to kill the government and the people alike.

Syed I.R. Kazimi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2021