Pakistan Economy Watch on Monday said the masses are tired of continued political and economic turmoil while the business community is experiencing sleepless nights. It said that if the situation remains the same, it will compel many to relocate their businesses to other countries. Many investors are investing billions in Dubai due to uncertainty at home which is a factor behind the erosion of the local currency, said Hanif Mughal, SVP of PEW.

The first crisis came in 2018-2019 when the government delayed a deal with the IMF, after which the coronavirus pandemic started, during which funds were used mercilessly.

Hanif Mughal said that the then government tried its best to please the voters at the cost of the economy, which emptied the treasury. After that, another government came to power which in its effort to control the dollar, damaged the economy beyond repair.

He said those events were followed by a judicial crisis which is having a very negative effect on the country’s economy.

Global rating agencies are downgrading Pakistan’s credit rating due to political instability. Still, he observed that sanity is not prevailing among the political circles, and the masses reeling under unprecedented inflation are paying a heavy price for this.

He said that our economy has long been suffering from several structural problems. Still, instead of finding sustainable solutions to those problems, he observed that our leaders have relied on quick fixes.

Hanif Mughal said that these problems could not be resolved by the government of the day. Problems like alarmingly high levels of domestic and external debts, fiscal deficit, unemployment, poverty and low exports, remittances, foreign investment and foreign exchange reserves are interweaved.

And all of them are structural and must be addressed, or the country will suffer for decades.