Pakistan’s ill economy is making headlines for the past several weeks and all sections of society are worried about what will happen to them in the future.
It is also true that if the people of a nation or country bury their necks in the sand like ostriches and feel that the coming days will pass happily and no difficult phase will come their way, then it is foolishness.
The situation is something like that the external and internal loans are combined with a debt of about 63 billion rupees. About 5,500 containers are loaded with various food items, medicine and life necessities at the seaport and banks are not even opening LCs for them.
The news is that in the next few days or weeks it is feared that the shipping companies will stop coming to Pakistan. Although it is related to sending their income in Pakistan to their countries, which means the shipping companies that send their ships here, the payments they receive in Pakistani rupees, these companies also convert into dollars. They send it to their respective headquarters.
Since the last few weeks, there have been obstacles in this process and these companies are unable to send their income money to their respective headquarters and the State Bank is burdened with millions of dollars while the State Bank has 4.2 billion dollars of foreign exchange. Reserves are grossly insufficient to meet all such payments. The foreign exchange reserves in the State Bank are insufficient even for 3 weeks worth of imports.
In such a situation which is a dangerous scenario before us, I do not want to mention it, but if I do not mention it, it will not do justice to my writing and to the information that the people of the society should have.
If imports of essential commodities stop like we are importing petroleum products, even wheat, tomatoes and onions. If only petroleum products are taken, it causes water pumping by water and sewage. This can cause pumping to stop. Electricity production, which we do with the help of petroleum, may also stop, which is likely to create a new energy crisis.
Similarly, transportation can be difficult. Water and electricity supply may not only be disrupted but also shut down. Talking about Karachi alone, according to an estimate, the population of this city is said to be 3 crores. If such a situation arises here, there will be an uproar. People will neither be able to stay in their homes nor use basic facilities.
Due to the lack of basic facilities, people will not be able to reach the offices and perform their official duties, due to which their jobs may end and starvation may start at home. This is the dire scenario that could lead to an era where people take to the streets to either kill or die.
I believe that we can get rid of such a situation if the current government takes some revolutionary decisions.
Many countries have been struggling with such clocks and we can also come out of these situations. Our leaders should immediately consider how we can get 6 to 8 billion dollars by next week or next month by providing various facilities to our own countrymen and by creating facilities for overseas Pakistanis.
1. The function of the Trade Development Authority is to promote exports. What will happen in the current era to promote? However, by setting up a single-country exhibition in different countries and taking our containers to sell in different countries, we can get the exchange rate from the small products that we have. Especially if this commercial activity is carried out by taking containers to African countries, millions of dollars can be earned daily from there, which will increase the national treasury.
Clothes, medicines, toys, food, tents, biscuits, chocolates and other products can be sold for it which is essential for public there. We can save money on single country exposure and the embassies’ premises can be used for this. Small business owners will also be very happy that they will be able to earn dollars by selling their products directly.
2. There are 10 crores of Pakistanis who love their country all over the world and facilities should be created for them to send money to their families in the form of dollars. Those dollars will increase our foreign exchange reserves. For this, dollars have to be accepted by legal senders in Pakistan.
Embassies should award certificates and credentials to overseas Pakistanis who legally remit money to Pakistan. If the parity loan is to be given 10 to 20 percent, the government can also give that which will also earn the government a profit. Profits can also be given in rupees, which will provide goods of interest to overseas Pakistanis.
3. We have plenty of wastelands that immigrants want to buy at government rates. It can also fetch $1 billion in bookings in two to three weeks. The real estate sector including Malik Riaz etc. also has to come forward and the expatriates who are in the Gulf countries should be identified in different areas and given schemes at low cost which are booked only in the foreign exchange.
If we still do not take care and keep the whole nation confused in the reversal of politics, then elites and elite politicians will leave with a plane ticket, but there may be chaos in the country which cannot be solved by anyone. Before that time comes, the ruling class of the country has to come to its senses. There are valuable minds here who can take care of all matters in short period while taking interest in pulling the country out of the economic quagmire so that thereafter medium and long term investment and foreign exchange reserves can be further enhanced.
Translated by: M.M. News Editorial Team
