Governing the country.

Byline: M. Abbas Raza

It has been seventy-two years now that Pakistan came into being. Where does the country today stands viz a viz the countries liberated during the same period and what social, economic and scientific achievements they have made are hidden to none. Whereas Pakistan is at many cross roads and its economic condition is fast deteriorating with each passing day. It has peculiar economic problems with a very large population, mostly unemployed with no future as the country could not sustain economic growth both due to internal as well as external factors. The major issues that ail the economy today are absence of 'good economic governance', 'rule of law' and 'accountability'. One of the cabinet ministers has recently announced that the youth should not look up to the government for the jobs which are to be offered by the private sector and is itself in doldrums.

The World Bank while cautioning the economy has linked it with medium-term outlook subject to the country's ability to ensure political stability and a return to normalcy. Growth for 2019, according to the Bank, is expected at 2.7 percent, as many important economic sectors show relatively weak performance. The slowdown in economic activities is expected to constrain jobs and wage growth in the near-term. The decrease in remittances will also lead to lower contributions to household income. As a result, the pace of poverty reduction is expected to slow down, with poverty measured using the USD 5.50 poverty line projected at 36.1 percent in 2019. On the domestic front, a challenging political environment, delays or reversals in efforts to strengthen revenues, and a slower than expected recovery of some key economic sectors represent important risks. Mitigating these risks will be key to creating private sector jobs and accelerating poverty reduction.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also forecasted a very bleak economic indicators for Pakistan for fiscal year 2020. The unemployment rate in Pakistan is expected to rise from 6.1 percent to 6.2 percent in 2020, whereas the gross domestic product (GDP) growth is forecasted to continue shrinking to 2.4 percent. On the other hand, the IMF forecasted the inflation rate in Pakistan to surge as high as 13 percent in 2020. In 2024, it may fall to 5 percent on the basis of consumer price index (CPI).

Yet the prime minister tweets on 17 October, 2019 just after the publication of the WB and IMF reports that 'it is a great...

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