Hafeez Sheikh's 'gift'.

Byline: Aamir Malik - Karachi

ACCORDING to the recently released Pakistan Economic Survey 2019-2020, the economy has shown dismal performance for the key indicators, a part of which can be attributed to the Covid-19 situation. However, the economic slide was taking place much before the pandemic started both outside and within Pakistan.

The GDP has shrunk by 0.38 per cent for the first time in the history of the country and the targets for most other indicators were missed by a wide margin, including a huge shortfall in revenues.

Large-scale manufacturing and automotive sectors declined significantly during the last year. There was an increase in both government expenditures...