Pakistan's army chief says 'fiscal mismanagement' to blame for sinking economy

ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Friday blamed Pakistan’s ongoing economic challenges on “fiscal mismanagement,” pointing out that the country had refused to take tough decisions to strengthen its economy in the past.
“We are going through difficult economic situation due to fiscal mismanagement,” he said while addressing a seminar at the National Defense University in Islamabad. “We have been shying of taking difficult decisions. The armed forces played their part by voluntarily foregoing annual increase in defense budget … We understand that the government has gone for difficult but quintessential decisions for long term benefits and what we are doing is playing our part.”
The army chief’s statement was circulated by the military’s media wing soon after the event that also brought together leading economic experts from the country. Most of the discussants highlighted the fact that a country’s military’s strength rested on its economic vigor. General Bajwa also endorsed the undeniable linkage between security and economy, saying there could be no national sovereignty in the absence of economic sovereignty.
The seminar also dilated on ways of overcoming budget deficit, low tax collection base, circular debt, loss-ridden public sector enterprises, fiscal indiscipline, undocumented economy, weak institutional capacity, low exports and perceptions surrounding the prevailing economic environment.
Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, prime minister’s adviser on finance, revenue and economic affairs, in his keynote address gave several reasons for the amplified economic challenges. He counted perpetual security threats, inconsistent economic policies, poor economic discipline and lack of will to take difficult decisions in the past as major contributors to the economic situation.
The army chief highlighted Pakistan’s efforts for restoring regional peace for greater trade connectivity, as he pointed out that countries could not develop individually beyond a certain point and required the whole region to develop.
Discussing the ongoing economic problems of the country, he said: “We all need to fulfill our responsibilities … [to make] these difficult initiatives [of the government to] succeed. There are examples in the recent past when other countries also confronted similar challenges and they came out successfully after taking difficult decisions.”
“In difficult times,” he added, “no individual alone can succeed unless the nation comes together unitedly. It’s time to be a nation.”