No doubt the lingering political uncertainty in the country has begun exacting a toll from the national economy. A case in point is privatisation of major public sector entities that were slated for sell-off during the current fiscal year but are said to have been put on hold.
According to a report in the Business Recorder, the government is likely to leave the privatization of these enterprises for the next government and would proceed only with the already planned GDRs and IPOs. Citing informed sources, the news report said the programme was postponed as potential investors would like to adopt a "wait and see" policy.
That means that something like Rs 86 billion, an amount the Privatisation Commission had realised as proceeds from privatisation last year and fixed almost the same target for the current year, would not be available as budgetary support. That is not the only area negatively impacted by the growing uncertainty about the continuity of current economic policies and programmes.
In a recent interview with editors, President Musharraf conceded that in the wake of political polarisation Pakistan had slipped on its international ranking. One may read a similar message in the latest State Bank report.
Universally, a kind of anxiety grips a country - its intensity may vary from country to country depending upon the level of its political stability and sensitivity of issues at stake - as it moves towards elections.
And, of the various segments of economy it is the potential investor, both foreign and local, who is most affected by this feeling, as unpredictability about the shape of things to come looms large over the horizon.
In the absence of certainty that the present economic policies would continue he would be confused and pretty reluctant to start a new business or invest more in his enterprise. His hesitation is bound to have a domino effect on other potential investors.
History of investment activity tells us that once gone cold it takes a long time to catch heat and get restarted. But, unfortunately, there is hardly a realisation among our political leadership that as they jostle for power, their fight does not spill over and damage the national economy.
They may differ violently on various issues, but it is not entirely impossible to have consensus on matters that affect the bread and butter of the people. After all there is a national consensus on the nuclear policy.
In fact, the need of the hour is that the political opponents of the government should make special efforts for assuring the investors of the continuity of economic policies, particularly with regard to privatisation and deregulation. The government may take the initiative by hosting an economy-specific APC, inviting leaders from both ends of political spectrum.
From that platform the opposition leaders may assure the potential investors that the economic reforms would continue irrespective of the political outcome of general election.
As of now, the economy seems to have taken the back seat in the ongoing political debate, giving way to issues like independence of judiciary, human rights and foreign policy, all of them, of course, being extremely important issues with profound impact on the society.
It may be so because the performance of the government on the economic front is not all that bad, discouraging the opposition from making it an election issue. But that is not enough.
We would request the opposition leaders that they should expand the focus of the political debate to include the national economy and as they do that they should come out with an unequivocal declaration that whatever the outcome of the ongoing political struggle they are committed to the present policies and that the country's economic direction is not proposed to be changed. It would indeed go a long way in restoring the much-needed investors' confidence.
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