Due to the wrong policies of incompetent and self-interested rulers, Pakistan’s economy today has reached at a point from where if it go a few steps further, God forbid, there is a fear of bankruptcy of the country. Despite this worsening situation the elites of the country still enjoy all the privileges and facilities provided them by the government. This is an unbearable burden on the masses and treasury.
The question is that, the elites’ salaries and incomes are in millions, why they not bear their expenses like a common person? And why the government provide them all the facilities free of cast? They are being provided with car, petrol, driver, house, electricity, gas and other facilities. If a government employee earning only Rs.30000 monthly can pay all his expenses why can’t elites cover their expenses with their own salaries?
Why are these people a burden on the country’s treasury? The current situation is a telling picture of the selfishness and indifference of elites at a time when millions of Pakistani crushed in the mill of poverty. The only purpose of the government policy is to get a loan from somewhere.
Getting a loans is not a bad thing. Many countries have made progress with the help and cooperation of international financial institutions, but the loans we have received from the international financial institutions, instead of spending them honestly, have been given to certain elites. Our misfortune is that a small section of the country is getting richer and richer, while a large number of Pakistanis are deprived of all facilities.
The fact is that the middle class has not been given a chance to stabilize in Pakistan. According to a study, every citizen of Pakistan was indebted of Rs.500 till 2008. Today, in 2022, every person is indebted to more than Rs.227,000. The foreign loans have reached to the point that it has become impossible to repay them, even the interest charged on it is not easy to be paid. The shackles of loans have been put around the necks of the poor people.
The country’s gross debt has reached 87% of GDP, Bangladesh has a debt ratio of 30%, China 54% and Russia 19%. The United States is one of the most indebted countries in the world but its policies are free. When development projects are started for the progress of the country, it lead to the development of industry, agriculture and human resources, then the country develops and the volume of debt automatically decreases with the growth of GDP.
It is a pity that 90% of Pakistan’s debt was spent on non-developmental activities. What could be more pitiable than the fact that Pakistan has lost its economic independence and sovereignty due to the debt burden? Even Pakistan has not yet come out of the gray list of FATF.
In spite of such a worsening situation, people in high positions continue to enjoy benefits even after retirement. There is a need to reduce government spending and ban borrowing from the IMF and World Bank. So that the country could be saved from bankruptcy on real grounds and could move it on the path of progress and development.
