Political, economic stability imperative for prosperous Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Prof. Dr. Jochen Hippler, the Country Director, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), has said that Pakistan has a high potential to put itself on the track of economic progress, only if it acts upon the Charter of the Economy, which is the way forward towards the country’s triumph.

He expressed these thoughts in a ceremony at the launch of books “Charter of Economy” and “Charter of Democracy and Beyond, The Way Forward for Institutional Reforms" authored by renowned economist Dr. Hafiz A Pasha at a local hotel on Monday.

“Political and economic instability are the root causes of the country’s dearth and the country must overcome its potential differences and initiate result-oriented dialogue among institutions,” he said, adding that how can political disagreements be acceptable in a country where the economy is paralyzed, many people are suffering from hunger, inflation and unemployment is on peak, the economic situation is bleak.

Prof Hippler emphasised the need for Pakistan to overcome its economic crises at the earliest through political stability, result-oriented dialogue and tolerance to acknowledge one another, as governance and economy are interconnected all the way.

Dr. Hafiz Pasha, former finance minister, and Country Director FES, highlighted the failures and drawbacks of Pakistan’s economic system. Criticizing the IMF, Dr. Hafeez Pasha dubbed it Uncle, as it treats us like children, puts us under pressure, and has always been ruthless with Pakistan.

Highlighting the real economic indicators, he said during the last three years, the real per capita income has actually fallen so horribly as never before in history. “After paying debt services, our net revenue remains zero,” he said, adding that Pakistan’s defence expenditures are borrowed, food prices have increased by 35-40 percent during the last three years, which is utter devastation for masses of the country. Our external debt is $125 billion and we have to make debt payments to the tune of $11 billion this year.

Dr. Hafeez Pasha, while emphasizing the need for tax reforms in the country, said that 85 percent of taxes are indirect and only 15 percent are direct taxes and asked as to why the government is not focusing on direct taxes. He emphasized that Pakistan must learn from the mistakes, join heads together and move forward for implementation of the Charter of the Economy for putting the country on the positive track to come out from economic ruin.

At the end of the session, a thought-provoking discussion was held among civil society activists, academics, think tanks, and economic experts, in which participants threw light on different problems that hinder democracy and economy. The participants emphasized upon the need for democracy within the political parties and institutional dialogue.

Without applying appropriate democratic norms, we won’t be able to overcome problems within the country. They said that political harmony comes only if politicians and parties agree on national issues, despite having political differences. They said the differences among elite and common people are increasing with the passage of time, which is one of the basic causes of muddle in the country. Among others including, Lt Gen. (retd) Talat Masood, Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Dr. Ayesha Pahsa, Dr. Akbar Zaidi, Dr. Kaiser Bengali, Karamat Ali, Afrasiab Khattak, Nazeer Mahar, Naseer Memon, Tahira Abdullah, Amina Kusar, Matiullah Jan and Jami Chandio addressed the book launch.