The Economic Diplomacy Forum has expressed concern over Pakistan’s continued reliance on external borrowing and IMF assistance, urging the government to adopt structural fiscal reforms and promote regional trade as sustainable alternatives to repeated loan programmes.
Commenting on the IMF’s recent staff-level agreement with Pakistan under the Extended Fund Facility, Economic Diplomacy Forum Founder-President Dr Muhammad Farooq Afzal said that while the agreement provides temporary relief, it fails to address the underlying causes of Pakistan’s economic instability.
“Borrowed money stabilises numbers, not nations. Pakistan needs fiscal discipline, not fiscal dependency,” he said. “The real crisis lies in uncontrolled non-development expenditures, inefficient public spending and weak governance.”