The latest federal budget offers little comfort. The seven per cent increase in salaries and pensions is grossly inadequate in the face of rising prices. The real challenge facing Pakistan is not a lack of resources but a failure to utilise them wisely. The government must cut wasteful expenditures, reduce the size of an overgrown bureaucracy, broaden the tax net and bring influential tax evaders into it. Agriculture and industry – the backbone of the economy – require urgent revival to boost production, expand exports, create jobs and reduce dependence on imports and foreign borrowing. We need a genuine economic vision capable of reducing poverty, creating jobs and restoring hope to millions.
Qamer Soomro
Shikarpur
