Pakistani’s economy has reached rock bottom as the rupee plummeted to 250 against the US dollar and the value of currency depreciated, marking the worst economic crisis since the nation formed, Asian Lite reported. The Pakistani currency had to forego 12 per cent of its value, leading to the hike in petrol and diesel prices. Formed in 1947, Pakistan was supposed to be the land that can give its citizen a brighter future but corruption, which has become the system’s foundation and the Army has wonderfully replaced the colonial rule. After more than six decades of Army’s rule, the citizen of Pakistan has not seen a single day of living in dignity. The nation has jumped from one aid to another, making friends and foes interchangeably in different timelines, and giving its people false hope of development and stability. According to Asia Lite, the rulers have changed now and then shifted the blame to their predecessors. And with this, the vicious cycle of people’s woes never ends. Facing one economic blunder after another, in a widely circulated clip Finance Minister Ishaq Dar says that Pakistan is the only country founded in the name of Islam and ‘Allah is responsible for its development and prosperity’. Only the devil can mislead people to this extent! Not only the economy, but the country’s health sector is also in the doldrums when such facilities are needed the most for the flood victims. Since December 2022, medicines and medical equipment witnessed a sharp increase of 16 per cent in price, as per the report in Asian Lite. Local pharmaceutical companies are also dying and the ones keeping their head above water are facing the issue of the high cost of raw materials and non-clearance from the Karachi port. Some are even selling available drugs at opportunistic cost! Food scarcity is another issue in Pakistan. 60 lakh people are struggling to find a single morsel of bread. 9.4 million acres of cropland are devastated due to floods, affecting Sindh and Balochistan the most. Industries are closing down due to shortages of energy and raw material. Thousands of containers are stranded at the ports due to insufficient foreign exchange for payments. As if these meltdowns were not enough, the government is repressing journalists and media from showing the true face of the Pakistani regime in Sindh and Balochistan. Journalists in the cities of Sindh hoisted black flags on the Press Club and House of Journalism to show solidarity with the arrested journalists, reported Asian Lite. Added to the atrocities of Gilgit-Baltistan, which always scores last on the list of priorities, is the issue of electricity supply and flour. Last week the Pakistani rupee saw its biggest oneday decline in over two decades on Thursday. The country’s currency fell 9.6 per cent against the dollar on Thursday, according to the central bank of the South Asian country. The slump was so severe that it prompted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to resume lending to the country. The foreign exchange companies had removed a cap on the Pakistani rupeedollar exchange rate. This was a key demand of the IMF as part of a programme of economic reforms it has agreed on with the debtladen South Asian nation. Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Asim Ahmed has termed the current financial situation in the country as ‘critical’, the Dawn reported on Friday. “Economic situation [in the country] is critical and there is a shortfall in revenue. We will soon overcome the tax gap,” Ahmad said during his address at a function held at the Customs House here on Thursday to mark the International Customs Day, according to Dawn. It can be noted that Pakistan secured a USD 6 billion IMF bailout in 2019. After this, the loan was topped up with another USD 1 billion last year. The country was hit by devastating floods last year. However, the lender then suspended disbursements in November last year due to the country’s failure to make more progress on its way to fiscal consolidation. The lender announced on Thursday that it was sending a mission to the country at the end of January for discussing on the lines of resuming these disbursements