Dr Hafiz Pasha is one the very few economists in the country who analyses even the most complex economic issues in most simple manner. In his last op-ed for the newspaper, Dr Pasha too has expressed optimism about country's growth prospects. According to him, "there has been some optimism that finally the economy will achieve a growth rate of 6 percent, after a gap of thirteen years. This optimism is based, first, on a big expansion in supply of electricity following the commissioning of new plants, especially in Punjab, based on LNG. Second, that the ongoing CPEC infrastructure projects would have a multiplier effect and, third, that exports would pick up again following the announcement of the incentive package."
The learned economist, however, seems to have ignored a key aspect of the overall growth outlook: new job opportunities. The issue of employment is likely to acquire the centrality in the overall government economic planning making processes mainly because of the fact that the Arabian Gulf region is presenting an all together dismal picture. The situation obtaining in the Gulf mainly because of protracted lower oil prices will certainly hurt both remittances and job prospects for Pakistanis. It needs to be ascertained whether or not the CPEC has already led to creating new jobs in any effective and meaningful manner.
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