Despite jumping through financial hoops set by international monetary organisations and pushing an unpopular tax-heavy budget through a hostile Parliament, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s thankless job continues. Regardless of a myriad of reforms and diplomatic offensives – which have been generally successful – the government has returned to the moment it knew was inevitable: asking foreign debt holders to restructure repayment terms.

Pakistan had already sought the restructuring of more than $27 billion in debt and liabilities with friendly nations — China, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — to secure a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package. Now, it seems the Prime Minister is personally leading the finance ministry team to ensure the restructuring takes place by utilising his considerable diplomatic clout with the leaders of these nations.

This is urgently needed, and the Prime Minister’s assistance is appreciated by his government. However, they must ensure that they do not have to put the Prime Minister back in this position again in a few years. The debt must not be simply restructured; the entire process that allowed such a vast sum to be accrued needs to be restructured as well. Otherwise, we are just kicking the can of hard economic pressure further down the road, for another government and perhaps another generation to pick up. Reformative proposals, such as the use of Thar-sourced coal in power plants to cut down imports, are the restructuring that the nation needs at the moment. The need for quick-fire solutions has brought us to where we are now, and we cannot walk back from the brink without implementing sustainability. Pakistan’s energy imports are the biggest drain on its reserves, which makes Pakistan especially vulnerable to geopolitical events as they produce sizeable price fluctuations.

Pakistan must look to its own sources, even if they present a compromise on efficiency compared to imported sources.