The political polarization in the country is escalating. The two main political parties have directed their entire force towards the protection of their senior leaders from the tightening noose of the National Accountability Bureau to the peril of their mandatory role or moral duty in helping strengthen rule of law, making legislation to revamp economic and administrative institutions. We are caught in a whirlwind of noisy politics swirling around the accountability process with political pundits and journalists churning out, as usual, scenarios of gloom and doom. It seems we, as a nation, have not come out of our infancy always looking helplessly to the unpitying heaven for succour. The economy of the country has been in a shambles since decades now. We have been living on dole-outs from IMF and foreign friends. We never learned to depend on our own resources. The country is beset with a grave economic crisis – certainly not of the present government’s making. It is a chronic one. exasperated by the previous successive governments particularly from 2002-2018 in their shortsighted recourse to heavy borrowing to meet the unrestricted overhead expenditures, plug the unchecked budget deficit and clear the skyrocketing losses of the public sector enterprises. These governments, instead of taking unpopular steps to restructure the economy, resorted to granting subsidies to food, transport and utility sectors, pumping cash into sick public sector enterprises instead of reorganizing and downsizing them. No visible steps were taken to bridge the gnawing gap between the exports and imports. While the foreign loan of the country was ballooning, there was no reduction in our extravagant expenditures at the national level with any worthwhile increase in the allocations for education, research, technological development and capacity building. Corruption was galore in the senior decision making positions. The ruling clique was shy of going for the tough and unpopular macroeconomic management or structural economic reforms. However, they never missed any opportunity to fill the public sector enterprises with their voters and workers. Name any public sector enterprise, it would be found filled to the brim with workers – even some with fake degrees as in PIA. In developed countries such enterprises are closed forthwith or privatized instead of injecting funds to meet their losses. All forms of corruption and corrupt practices should be curbed ruthlessly. The people should be kept informed. They outweigh political leaders and self-centered elite in patriotic spirit and endurance of hardships for collective good Financial analysts suggest that 190 public sector enterprises (PSEs) have lost Rs.3.7trillion out of public exchequer over the past 5 years. The list of such money losing public enterprises is long and contains every enterprise of any public utility importance from Pakistan International Airlines to Pakistan State Oil, Pakistan Railways, Pakistan Steel Mills, Sui Southern, Sui Northern, Oil and Gas Development Corporation, House Building Finance Corporation, National Insurance, Nandipur Power Project, National Transmission and Dispatch Company, Pakistan Trading Corporation, Utility Stores, National Fertilizer, Pakistan Television, Zarai Tarqiati Bank, National Bank of Pakistan and First Women Bank. The losses of these Public sector enterprises have been on the rise every year. In 2013, the PSEs lost Rs.495billion. Their losses touched whopping Rs.1trillion in 2018. PIA, Pakistan Railway, Pakistan Steel Mill have been the main loss making enterprises. The accumulated losses of Pakistan Steel Mill reached staggering Rs.177billion in 2018.PIA has been losing Rs.45billion; Railway Rs.34billion a year. The expected revenue from the direct taxes in the current budget would be Rs.1.7trillion and the government has already lost Rs.3.7trillion in these enterprises over five years. The allocation for Defence affairs and Services in the current budget is Rs.1.1trillion much less than the losses of the PSEs. This tax payers’s money would have been expended profitably for the development of our schools, colleges, technological development and capacity building, healthcare facilities and communication infrastructure. The political leadership knows the alarming economic situation which afflicts the country. The exports have stagnated at $25billion covering 40% of imports. Last year, imports touched $60billion. The budget deficit reached $30billion in the financial year 2017-2018. The expending spree of the last government pushed it to cross over 7% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) necessitating borrowing from abroad. The tax-to-GDP ratio has stagnated at 11%. They have contributed to the creation of this economic affliction and are now shamelessly papering over their lack of political will and courage to confront this monumental challenge during their terms in office. The present government has shown the will and courage to restructure the economy which is bound to bring short term hardships to the people. It becomes imperative for the political leaders across the aisle to take the country out of this economic morass rather than doing politics on this challenge. The public sector enterprises incurring huge losses should either be closed giving a golden shake to the employees as the National Shipping Corporation did it in the past or privatized wherever feasible on terms and conditions that may protect the rights of their workforce. The option of public and private partnership in running a few of these PSEs profitably may be explored on the pattern of the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company in Sindh. To cut down the huge budget deficit, the government should drastically curtail non-governmental and wasteful expenditures. Though it will impact ordinary people, we should also bring down subsidies to the enterprises of public utility importance. We go for aggressive marketing like China and South Korea for the increase of exports. It will make a difference if the government extends support to selected and targeted exporters. Agriculture makes substantial contribution to the GDP. Tourism has emerged as the effective foreign exchange earning industry in many developed countries. These sectors should be prioritized for governmental support. The tax-to-GDP ratio needs to be increased from the current 11% to 17%. All these corrective measures will yield no dividends if the government makes any compromise on bringing to book all the culprits who have been unabashedly picking up on the precious resources of this nation at every level. All forms of corruption and corrupt practices should be curbed ruthlessly. The people should be kept informed. They outweigh political leaders and self-centered elite in patriotic spirit and endurance of hardships for collective good. The author was a member of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and he has authored two books