Daily Times

IMF’s demanded mini-budget has brought havoc on every household item. From electronics to cosmetics and from food items to home appliances, everything has been bitterly subjected to heavy taxes. This has spurred inflation to an unimaginable reach. These measures, proposed through the mini-budget bill, are in addition to the earlier steps agreed upon with the IMF, including increasing fuel, electricity and gas rates to an alarming level.

Is it not unfair that the IMF conditions always burden the poor class with price hikes, while leaving the elite to splurge on loans through unchecked corruption and special allowances? Why is the IMF not imposing terms and taxes on the expenditures of the army, judiciary and bureaucracy? The answer may not be possible without knowing the intention and history of both the lender, the IMF, and the borrowers, the government.

After eleven years of independence, in 1958, Pakistan first approached IMF for a loan. In 2019, it approached for a twenty-second bailout. In nutshell, Pakistan has been under siege by the economic imperialism of the IMF, and bitter truth is, it’s not going to end here. Inevitably, more hard times are still on way to come.

The easiest way is to knock on the door of the IMF, get loans and pass tenure with ease only to let the people face the music.

The IMF carries the open motive of “come, seek and surrender.” It’s openly offering loans with hijacking terms. It tells the borrowing country how to repay, how to impose and subjugate its residents and even what to do and what not to do concerning the external and internal affairs of the country.

Noam Chomsky gave a talk on a TV program entitled “IMF and World Bank: tool of the Neoliberal Onslaught.” He said, “these two institutions IMF and World Bank were established to captive the developing countries under the hegemony of economic imperialism, both institutions take undue advantage of a country’s economic crisis.”

The current situation of Pakistan is a hallmark of the IMF’s real motive of “come, seek and surrender” because if IMF had truly been a friendly institution for uplifting Pakistan from the economic crisis, it would have gone for curtailing the expenditures of the elite class i.e army, judiciary, bureaucracy and politicians rather than taxing and targeting the poor class.

Seeking financial assistance from IMF has always been the least choice for developing countries, and here on our side, it has been our favourite choice to go for IMF and deep drag the country and people into hell.

By continuously relying on IMF, this debt default-like situation would worsen in the coming days. No one here seems to be serious about the country as corruption is rampant, inflation is on top, bad governance is the talk of the day and accountability is the joke of the day.

From the beginning, no government has ever attempted to self-sustain the economy of the country. No attention was given to capital stability, resource management, and goods export empowerment. No head was ever paid to the natural resources of the country. The easiest way for all of them was to knock on the door of the IMF, get loans and pass their tenure with ease and comfort only to let the people, especially the underprivileged class, face the music of the terms, conditions and taxes.

Is there any way out for Pakistan? To speak optimism, this country is in dire need to come out of the economic imperialism of the IMF. All stakeholders, specially politicians-in government, armed forces, judiciary, and bureaucracy, need to cut off their special allowances and luxuries as the country is on a ventilator, so let it survive and breathe.

The need of the time is to revisit the economic policies of the country. Interim hardships may come, but with long-term planning, management and forbearance, this country will surely be on track. Such a lesson of survival and success can be learnt from Bangladesh, India and Malaysia.

The writer is Assistant Professor (English Linguistics) at College Education Department, Govt of Sindh.