Economists say that the common man has no interest in economic data, national debt or deficit, he only sees the economy in the context of commodity prices and available employment opportunities. If the same scale is kept, according to experts, at the end of the previous government, the price of flour was Rs 32 per kg, which has now risen to Rs 52 per kg, while the price of sugar has gone up from Rs 55 to Rs 85 in the same period. According to the government’s annual plan report for 2020-21, the number of unemployed people in the country is expected to increase from 4 million to 6 million. Economists say the situation could improve next year. The government spent a lot of time dealing with it, and the entire economic team was changed. When the IMF came with Pakistan, the economy improved a bit, but at the same time, the recovery of the economy began to be affected by the coronavirus.
According to official documents, the total cost of loans in the country in March 2018 was Rs 230.24 trillion. Which has increased to Rs. 314.52 trillion in March 2020. Earlier in 2015, during the PML-N government, this debt was Rs 159.86 trillion. Economists say it was necessary for the government to obtain loans to keep its foreign exchange reserves stable, and that the government has no choice but to borrow new loans to repay its existing ones. External loans worth 29.2 billion have been borrowed in the last two fiscal years. Of this, 26.billion was secured during the rule of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
According to the data, 19.20 billion of the loans obtained were used to repay the loans already obtained. In the current situation of the country, the Punjab government can play a key role in supporting the economy. Because, Punjab is the only province on whose economic activities the whole country depends. In this regard, the Punjab government under the leadership of Usman Bazdar is struggling, but until all the sectors related to the economic stability of Punjab together, the difficulties will remain. Over the last one year, it has been seen that some sections of the Punjab government have been focusing their full attention on this.