Addicted to the IMF

Part II Thursday, July 24, 2008 Meekal Aziz Ahmed There are some other ideas that I wish to comment upon briefly. One economist suggests we let inflation run rampant because it cannot be controlled. Instead we should concentrate on protecting the poor through safety nets. Who the poor are, where they are, how they are to be reached, what kind of safety nets are envisaged and at what cost is left unclear. I, for one, await the implementation of the Benazir Card with trepidation. It will help no one, become a new avenue for corruption, turn into a scandal, and be quietly dropped, having only earned her a bad name. There are disturbing reports that the government could impose quantitative restrictions on "non-essential" imports, harking back to the closed economy of the 60's. This would be another disaster to add to the list of... [read full story]