Welcome to Banistan Ariba

OPINION

Ariba Shahid

Welcome to Banistan

ernment assumes this will help increase exports, it is important to note how dangerous bans really are. For starters, they create grey economies and the need for smuggling. We’ve already seen an influx of iranian cooking oil and dairy products smuggled into the country in addition to the petrol smuggled in from time to time. The government is effectively creating a grey economy. Welcome to Banistan, a country where YouTube, tiktok, imports and FX accounts are blocked on a whim. Please enjoy your stay here, we don’t know how long until that’s banned too. A fundamental right in today’s These bans also help push up prices of domestic goods and don’t necessarily result in local efficiency. The more protected your local industries are the more they take you for granted. What’s more important is that this pattern of banning things is not new. In the past Pakistan banned the import of cheese. Till date there are no large scale cheese substitutes. modern world is the right to choose. The right to choose who governs However, this is also a reminder of the past when the you, where you live, what you study, what you eat, etc. However, simplest solution is to hurt consumer and investor sentiment. Dein today’s world we’re spoilt for choice. That isn’t necessarily a bad spite their best efforts, the PMLN ghost of freezing FX accounts thing. Despite that, the government is stifling our thoughts and mak- may never die down. ing choices for us. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif belongs to the Pakistan Between March to June, Pakistan is expected to spend a whop- Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN). His brother Nawaz Sharif has ping $2 billion on subsidies that have yet to be withdrawn. Instead of served as Prime Minister thrice before. However, while he is choosing to do the right thing and rollback subsidies, the government remembered as a Prime Minister that conducted nuclear tests in is up with another gimmick - public austerity by banning luxury Pakistan despite mounting international pressure, the financial goods from being imported. This, however, is not the smartest move community remembers him for the repercussions of that testing. in the book. The Chagai-I, five underground nuclear tests at Ras Koh For context, our choices are being taken away in vain. It won’t Hills in 1998, were celebrated throughout the country on the help. The monthly impact of the ban on the import of 38 non-essen- streets. However, internationally, Pakistan had to face repertial luxury items under an emergency economic plan announced on cussions and condemnation. The United States, Japan, AustraThursday will merely be $247 million. lia, Sweden, Canada, and more importantly the International

Mariyum Aurangzeb, information minister, however claims The Monetary Fund (IMF) imposed economic sanctions on Pakistan. ban will have an impact of $6 billion [Rs1.2 trillion]. While the gov- As a result, all new US economic assistance to Pakistan was suspended. In order to deal with the uncertainty and to curtail the FX outflow, the president at the time, Rafiq Tarrar imposed a state of emergency. The government ordered banks to remain closed across the country, the Karachi Stock The writer is a business Exchange (now Pakistan Stock Exchange) was shut, and all foreign currency accounts worth $7 journalist at Profit. She can billion were frozen. The finance minister at that time, Sartaj Aziz called the measures necessary to be reached at ariba.shahid@ stop the flight of foreign money which could lead the country to bankruptcy. pakistantoday.com.pk or at It is, however, unlikely for Pakistan to face such embargoes and sanctions over its actions, twitter.com/AribaShahid thus low chances of warranting such a move. However, with reserves dwindling, no support coming through, and the government being adamant on closing the fuel subsidy over losing political clout - one never knows. This suffocating ban on imports will solve nothing. This will only buy time until someone becomes strong enough to take the tough step and increase fuel prices. How many things will you ban until you make the right move?