Published on: September 24, 2025 4:11 AM

Pakistan’s economy is bearing the weight of decades of poor decision-making, fiscal mismanagement, and politically motivated policies. At the heart of this long and painful economic decline lies a recurring pattern: the prioritisation of political gains over national interest, the persistent postponement of difficult but necessary reforms, and a chronic disregard for economic value when it comes to development planning. It is not a lack of resources or talent that holds Pakistan back – it is the failure to make rational, courageous choices in the face of looming crises. The outcome is now starkly visible across every sector: from collapsing state-owned enterprises to the suffocation of private investment, from bloated bureaucracies to a crushing inflationary crisis. The cost of inaction, and worse, misguided action, is now being paid by 240 million Pakistanis.

If there is to be any hope of economic recovery, the political leadership must undergo a fundamental shift from the politics of survival to the politics of stewardship.

Nowhere is this crisis more visible than in the country’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs), which have become financial black holes draining public resources. In the fiscal year 2023-24 alone, federal SOEs posted a combined loss of Rs 851 billion. That figure balloons to a staggering Rs 5.75 trillion in cumulative losses since 2014. These enterprises include the perennial loss-makers: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), Pakistan Railways, and the National Highway Authority (NHA). They have long ceased to operate as commercial ventures and instead function as bloated appendages of the state, rife with inefficiency, corruption, and overemployment. PIA, once the pride of the skies, now sits on a debt pile of over $2.5 billion. The airline operates with an archaic staffing structure, employing over 700 people per aircraft-an absurdity by any international benchmark. Meanwhile, Pakistan Steel Mills has not produced a single ton of steel for years. Yet, it continues to absorb public money while its debts cross Rs 400 billion. These SOEs are not in a coma-they are on life support, and the taxpayers are footing the bill.

The model for reform is already in our........

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