Rooma News : Editorial /Fiscal Resilience or a Dialogue of the Deaf?

 

Editorial .

By Rooma Mehmood.

Fiscal Resilience or a Dialogue of the Deaf?

On the eve of Budget 2026-27, Pakistan stands at a crossroads between performance and genuine governance.

Islamabad — As the nation counts down to the unveiling of the Federal Budget 2026-27 on June 10, the atmosphere in the capital is thick with apprehension. While the government prepares to present its fiscal roadmap, a sobering reality persists: our budgetary exercises have, for too long, functioned as a "dialogue of the deaf."

The upcoming budget arrives at a time of profound national and global volatility. Economically, Pakistan remains under the tight oversight of the International Monetary Fund, a constraint that has forced the government to trim development allocations across most sectors to prioritize specific infrastructure projects and coalition commitments. The Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) remains largely stagnant in real terms, leaving little room for the social sector or transformative innovation.

The Climate Paradox

Most glaring is the persistent failure to integrate climate resilience into our fiscal planning. Despite the documented $29.3 billion loss from climate disasters between 1992 and 2021, and the existence of a formal "Handbook on Climate Risk Screening," our planning remains performative. We continue to see "green taxes" that penalize rather than promote renewable technologies like solar energy and electric vehicles.

To label a budget as "climate-focused" through mere tagging, while failing to mandate actual risk screening for projects, is an exercise in fiscal negligence. We are not just failing to protect our environment — we are systematically increasing the cost of future climate action and leaving our most vulnerable populations exposed.

The Wider Context

Beyond our borders, the world is grappling with its own crises. The ongoing conflict and geopolitical turbulence continue to exert upward pressure on global inflation, disproportionately affecting economies like our own. Meanwhile, the strategic landscape is shifting; the struggles of major economies with demographic decline and technological stagnation serve as a cautionary tale for our own policymakers.

If we continue to ignore the necessity of embedding science-based, climate-smart development models into our planning, we risk not only fiscal instability but a total erosion of long-term economic competitiveness.

A Call to Action

As the Finance Minister prepares to present the Economic Survey on June 9, the public demands more than just numbers and targets. We need a shift toward "poverty-proof" and climate-risk-sensitive allocations. The government must move beyond the rhetoric of budget tagging and treat climate resilience as a standalone pillar of development — equal in importance to infrastructure and defence.

True resilience cannot be built on the back of taxes that stifle innovation, or by ignoring the ecological impacts of our industrial choices. The 2026-27 budget must be the moment we move from "ticking boxes" to genuine, science-based governance. Anything less is a disservice to the people of Pakistan — and a gamble with our collective future.