Not only is Business Recorder op-ed writer Bakhtiyar Kazmi prolific, he’s widely considered an accomplished economist. That he has the ability to look at bigger picture is a fact. In his ongoing series for the newspaper titled “Economic Satire”, he has been discussing a slew of issues of economics and finance in a highly meaningful and effective manner. In the part IV of his series, he writes, among other things, that “So why, exactly, is it that workers’ remittances went up?” Fatman directed this question towards the Assistant. “Ignore conjectures; any evidence that it had to do with any government policy? Or, beyond correlation, what is the evidence that restrictions on travelling due to the pandemic affected Hundi. Or where is the evidence that those having lost their jobs are sending their savings home?”

The fiscal and monetary managers of the country are required to look into what Kazmi has been trying to communicate to them in particular. They must do it because policymaking and success of policies is dependent upon broad-based discussions and formal and informal inputs.

SAVERA WASIM (KARACHI)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020