The ruling elite’s emphasis on seeking loans conveniently sidelines that one day, Pakistan would have to pay back its new creditors. In the meantime, hollow platitudes ask us to work on our exports to correct the trade balance. How, you ask? That no one wishes to give their two cents on. For quite some time, Islamabad has been employing every trick in the playbook to secure the IMF bailout–oblivious to its harsh conditions and the toll on the masses. But a few feel-good moments are prioritised while all workability indicators are in freefall. As per Pakistan’s Bureau of Statistics, the LSM sector has experienced an overwhelming 5.56 per cent decline. Considering the longest-ever production shutdown by the likes of Honda Atlas and the steadily growing list of textile production shutdowns, one need not look at the actual numbers to realise how the rot is spreading deeper and faster than the authorities would like to mention. Still, the slowdown is expected to get worse in the coming days. Negative growth is forecasted by many and external debt obligations remain the biggest cause of concern. These country-wide suspensions reflect how industrialists–the lifeline of any thriving economy–are giving up on the workability model. Some complain of skyrocketing raw materials while others have been hit by poor business conditions. But every giant’s decision to close shop means many more workers are forced to go home penniless. The exponentially rising inflation is already too much for the common man to stomach. Now add to that, the constant uncertainty about livelihoods and each day becomes nothing short of an excruciating sentence. People and the economy both feel forsaken. While an average Pakistani is trying his utmost best to find a safer pasture elsewhere, the fragile treasury cannot wait to be connected to an oxygen cylinder in the ICU of economies. After all, there’s not much one can do while living on borrowed time. *