THIS is a story about a government that collects more money every year and yet can’t build anything that works. Govern­ment schools are abandoned for private alternatives, while people only visit government hospitals when they have no choice. Meanwhile, the salaried class pays taxes with mathematical precision, while big land­­lords, traders and property dealers con­­tribute almost nothing. This is Pakis­t­a­­n’s story, where the salaried class has be­­come the nation’s Atlas, bearing the entire fiscal burden on its shoulders, while the elites walk free beneath it.

Will this budget finally say something honest? Consider what has happened to Pakistan’s economy over the last two decades. Remittances, which stood at around $6 billion in 2007, have risen to over $38bn in FY25. This steep rise enabled Pakistan to reduce poverty on paper without transforming the structure of its economy. It did not build competitive industries. It did not develop an export base. For a while, this arrangement worked.

Then came the rupture. Inflation peaked at nearly 38 per cent in May 2023. Food prices rose 30-40pc. The rupee fell from 160 to above 280. Real incomes collapsed for the bottom half of the population. Pakistan today is not simply a poor country; it’s an economically fragile........

© Dawn