The economy is not getting better. It will not get better until full scale structural reforms of the economy take place. The economy has some serious structural defects and will need to be redesigned. The management of the economy and the thinking behind it will have to change. Until then, we will remain in IMF programs, exports won’t grow, unemployment will be high, debt will remain out of control, industrialization will not happen, investment will be low etc.
All of the parties who have been in power during the last thirty years have contributed to the demise of the economy. As there is no change of thinking or teams, there is no basis for expecting them to fix the economy. No single party has the thinking and the team to reform the economy. None of the political parties has a credible plan for how to avoid IMF in the future, how to industrialize, how to grow, how to increase exports etc. This also applies to the current government and its economic management team.
The area that needs reforms and vast performance improvement without any further loss of time is the government itself - ministries and the bureaucracy. Without first reforming them, other reform efforts will stall The economic problems are now quite complicated and entrenched, there is no messiah, no silver bullet or simple solutions available and we cannot depend on outside countries to develop our economy for us. It will have to be done by Pakistanis and will need to mobilize the whole nation in this endeavor.
We have to find a way, that is democratic and within the framework of the constitution, to bring in fresh thinking and team of reformers (selfless, courageous and possessing vision and skills) to reform all aspects of the economy (economic development model, budgeting process, debt management, export growth, industrialization, job creation, tax policy, tax operations, role of public and private sectors, privatization, pension reforms, trade policy etc.).
Aamir Mumtaz (Former Chairman PSM Board, Karachi)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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