Gloomy forecast

This refers to the news report, ‘Current account deficit shrinks 18.5 percent to $1.6 billion in July-March’ (April 21). There should be no reason for jubilation because current account deficit still remains large and the gap is being financed through additional external borrowings, thus increasing the country’s debt burden. The trade gap, which is a key component of current account, exhibits a huge deficit, notwithstanding the significant savings being made in the oil import bill. Falling exports and a rising non-oil import bill have further increased the trade deficit over the same period of the last year. The rising trend in the non-oil import bill is because of an extremely liberalised import policy, rarely followed by the foreign exchange-deficient Third World countries.

The anti-industrialisation policy of the PML-N government is reflected in the unabated imports of goods already being produced in the country as well as the inflow of non-essential/luxury goods to satiate the appetite of the elite class. The slowdown in remittances, rising debt servicing and higher repatriation of profits/dividends by foreign investors give a gloomy picture of the state of our affairs that awaits us.

Huma Arif

Karachi