Pre-budget Economic Review – Benazir’s Choice – II
(This is the SECOND in a series of THREE articles on the subject)
Statistical indicators clearly show the deep malaise in the economy with inflation, deficit spending, corruption, etc eating away like a bunch of rats at the vitals of our economy. With revenue collection falling way short of projected targets and non-development expenditure on the rise despite Government of Pakistan’s (GoP) best efforts, GoP’s budget makers have to accomplish a Houdini act to get out of this financial Gordian knot. About the only positive indicator for GoP at this time is the blizzard of MoUs that signal the PPP regime’s all-out resolve to get foreign investment into the country at any cost, even by “mortgaging the country’s economic assets” according to a recent statement of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI). The MoUs notwithstanding, all other indicators point to a gradual slide to impending economic doom.
