What is inclusive growth? Google it, and you get this: Inclusive growth is a concept that advances equitable opportunities for economic participants during economic growth with benefits incurred by every section of society The focus is primarily on equity principle to generate participation and economic growth. World Economic Forum recently released its Inclusive Growth and Development Report 2017 with the inclusive development Index (IDI). The index, as explained by WEF itself, is based on a set of KPIs that provide a multidimensional assessment of living standards across countries.
It is usually not a surprise to find Pakistan way down a certain global index. However, this time the media has been humming the countrys victory over India on the Inclusive Development Index 2017. Pakistan ranks higher this time at 52nd spot versus Indias 60th among 79 developing countries - something that should definitely be applauded.
However, the devils in the details; what most of the media missed is reading deeper into the performance. The index ranks 109 countries according to their current level of inclusive development. It also provides a view on recent performance over 5 years, and this is what escaped medias vigilant eye. It is these two features together that allow users to completely understand both the state and direction of inclusive growth, the report claims.
The IDIs policy framework consists of seven principal pillars, with sub-division of each pillar. These seven pillars include (i) education and skills; (ii) basic services and infrastructure; (iii) corruption and rents; (iv) financial intermediation of real economy investments; (v) asset building and entrepreneurship; (vi) employment and labour compensation; (vii) fiscal transfers.
So where does Pakistan stand? While Pakistan is ahead of India on the index for 2017, its receding performance trend and Indias advancing movement on the index takes off some sheen from Pakistans overall higher score.
It is indeed at the 52nd spot in 2017 index with an overall score of 3.56 eight ranks above India. However, the 5-year trend in overall IDI shows that the countrys position declined by 0.03 percent, whereas India has witnessed a rising trend, growing by 2.5 percent in the 5-year period. In other words, Pakistan's IDI trend rank is 38 - much lower than India's 16.
Also, in terms of inclusion parameter only-described by poverty and income trend-Pakistan ranks 60, while India is at 16. In terms of GDP as well, India ranks higher at 52 than Pakistans 60. The data for the index comes from every countrys economic indicators and population metrics, and one concern raised by various circles is the lack of updated data. Mind you, the last census held in Pakistan was about 17 years ago, while the one held in India was in 2011!
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