Money mania.

WE live in a bizarre country. That is the most appropriate term I find to describe Pakistan. It has some laws and official practices that are not only irrational, but actually absurd when seen in the context of their implementation. They cannot be explained and no sane-minded person would justify them. The elites are the beneficiaries and so they are pro-status quo.

The root of the evil lies in our failure to show ownership of our country, mainly because we are not unanimous in our opinion regarding the raison d'etre of Pakistan's genesis. Was it to be a homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent? Was it to be a theocratic state patterned on Riyasat-i-Madina? Was it to be a security state designed to guard the ummah? The fact is that our own people now feel betrayed by our own rulers.

Mostly uneducated, our masses are confused. They fill the mosques chock-a-block and pray for a miracle. That alone can brace them for the sacrifices they are asked to make in the name of austerity.

A look at the situation on the ground brings out the bizarre contradictions. The authors of the federal budget announced last week had obviously not read the Pakistan National Human Development Report (2020) prepared by renowned economist Dr Hafeez Pasha. It very succinctly brings out the stark inequality that divides the country into 'two Pakistans'. He writes, 'The overall share for the poorest income quintile is 14.2 per cent compared to 37.2pc for the richest quintile.'

The perks for government officials have been bizarre.

What is not recorded in this budget or in earlier ones is the fact that 'the total privileges enjoyed by Pakistan's most powerful groups amounted to Rs2,660 billion in 2017-2018. Equivalent to 7pc of the country's GDP, these privileges can be broken down into favourable pricing, lower taxation and preferential access'. On the other hand, according to Pasha, the social welfare programme which is mainly used by the poor amounted to a measly Rs624bn in 2019.

And how do our rulers spend the revenues and foreign exchange reserves they earn? Economist Kaiser Bengali, while presenting a 'shadow budget' a day before the federal budget was introduced in the National Assembly, gave us this bit of information. For every Rs100 raised as revenue the government spends Rs200 on current expenditure. As for the balance-of-payments gap, for every $100 worth of goods exported we import goods worth $220. This deficit is met by loans that have been ballooning...