Country's economy

Commenting on government's decision to approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with a view to dealing with a host of economic challenges in the country, noted economist Dr Hafiz Pasha has reportedly argued that the government ought to have done that on the day one; it must not have delayed a decision on the Fund for several weeks. Dr Pasha's is a plausible argument. The government, however, seems to have taken this decision only reluctantly or as a hard pill to swallow. But the question is whether or not the economic managers (bureaucracy) of the country or the PTI government itself had been able to foresee a few weeks ago the present grave deterioration in economic indicators with worsening of current account deficit, rupee slide, stock market decline, etc. Moreover, there are visible signs that the economy is beginning to slow down. In other words, the problem of joblessness will only accentuate. It leads to another question: what will happen to government's pledge of creating 10 million new jobs over the next five years? Unfortunately, the situation is characterized by suspicion and doubt.