Fixing the economy will be top priority for the new government once it is sworn in, said Nawaz Sharif, former Pakistan prime minister who has tapped brother Shahbaz for that job. Arriving at the National Assembly, the chief of the PML-N promised that “The government will try to fix the economy which would in turn fix everything.”
The statement is welcome recognition of the state of affairs in Pakistan but begs the question why Nawaz Sharif said it when his brother, as head of government, would have been the right voice. It underscored the point that the elder brother is the power behind this throne.
The National Assembly’s inaugural session opens on Thursday and Sharif, as party supremo, will preside over the deliberations and the strategy on key issues going forward.
But given the parlous state of the economy, Pakistan’s government must quickly move to secure a new loan of $6 billion from the IMF for the next three years. Dawn had earlier quoted Bloomberg to report that talks with the IMF are expected to take place next month or in April once the review of the $3 billion standby arrangement is completed.
The country has been in free fall for quite some time with living standards in steep fall accompanied by price rises and the poor as always, the hardest hit. Shortage of everyday staples has been witnessed but the ding dong battle between ousted prime minister Imran Khan’s government and the army led to that being ignored.
Back to Sharif, who expressed the hope that every member of the National Assembly would complete his or her five-year term. That hope also applied to the prime minister given that no civil government in Pakistan has ever finished its five-year term. Sharif was prime minister thrice but was removed each time by the very army that backed his early political rise.
