President of Pakistan Economy Watch, Dr. Murtaza Mughal, said on Friday that the economy is facing dire consequences, and the masses are suffering greatly due to poor choices by economic managers. He said the country needs a robust economic recovery programme from political parties, busy making tall claims to misguide the masses for their motives. He said that the economy has been played as a toy, which has led the country to bankruptcy while the people are straying.

In a statement today, Dr Murtaza Mughal said that the role of criminals and corrupt elements in the economy should be eliminated. Instead of making loud claims, the political parties should present a concrete economic recovery programme.

He claimed that many careless economic managers were more concerned with maintaining their popularity than with strengthening the economy, which could not withstand the damaging effects of their actions. He noted that criminals, corrupt elements, and patrons are overly involved in the economy and destroying the country for their interests.

The dollar has declined, and the rupee has stabilised slightly due to the government’s recent measures to lessen the influence of criminals in the economy; however, these factors still need to be removed.

Dr Mughal said those who run the country’s economic affairs should be kept away from adventurers and told that they are not there to gain political popularity but to stabilise the economy. He warned that the country would be bankrupt if the government formed after the election also tried to gain fame, manipulate the currency rate, and engage in reckless economic endeavours.

The government was formed in 2013 and took huge loans for unnecessary development projects. It increased expenditure without increasing income and tried to control the dollar without adequate foreign exchange reserves, which damaged the economy.

Later attempts to topple the government in 2017 also damaged the economy. From 2017 to 2019, all previous records of money printing were broken, while in 2020, unsuccessful attempts to increase GDP artificially were made, which accelerated GDP growth but resulted in the destruction of the economy. As a result of these misadventures, the politicians became famous, but the people were stuck in a trap of inflation from which there was no way out.