Political turmoil aggravates economic distress, heightens security threat

By Hamza Ameer

Islamabad, Nov 12 (SocialNews.XYZ) Pakistan's unstable political situation, which is growing worse by every passing day, has had a damaging and direct impact on the country's worsening economy and is fast becoming a serious threat to the country's national security.

The political crisis, protests, rallies, campaigns on ground and on social media targeting the current government as unreliable in terms of handling the funds for flood relief, investments and progressive development, coupled with rising inflation, driven by food, transport and energy prices; have pushed the ruling coalition government of Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) towards losing its political capital, specifically in the Punjab province, which used to be the party's stronghold.

In October, the Consumer Price Index rose by at least 26.56 per cent as compared to September's 23.56 per cent. And with the current deteriorating political situation looming over Islamabad, business confidence is stated to have dropped to one of its lowest levels.

According to a survey, inflation remains the most cited problem of the business community at present in Pakistan.

"The worsening economic condition was the number one issue, as national security is directly linked with it," Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum stated while he spoke about the challenges Pakistan faces in view of its national security, interest and financial situation.

One of the main factors for the political instability in the country is former ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan's long march and his demand of holding early elections in the country. This has put a big question mark on the current government's time in power, making it even more difficult to carry out challenging structural reforms.

This also puts major questions over the persistence of the current political crisis, which may stay on for a longer time and create doubts in the minds of the business community and the financial market at large.

The political turmoil is also taking a big toll on locals as unemployment and inequality have been on the rise because multiple and overlapping economic political crisis threaten labour market recovery worldwide.

As per International Labour Organization Monitor on the "World of Work", vacancies will decline, global employment growth will deteriorate significantly in the final quarter of 2022.

In the current time of economic development and global connectivity, it is clear that economics and politics are deeply linked and cannot be separated. Though most of the time, economics shape the destiny of a nation, in times of severe, prolonged multiple economic crises, politics moves to the driving seat, often triggering transformational change.

Unfortunately, in the case of Pakistan, political gains seem to have more importance over everything and the fight to regain or come into power by all means necessary, has more often then not further damaged, hurt and negatively impacted the country's economic standing.

Source: IANS