The Ministry of Finance has issued a lacklustre rejoinder (January 28) to my article entitled "Economic Woes" (January 21). The rejoinder simply narrated the government side of the economic story which are well-known to the readers. From the government's point of view, all economic indicators are heading towards north and economic prosperity is visible all around.
The author did not do the job professionally. In order to portray a rosy picture of the economy he tried to compare numbers in some cases on month-on-month basis and others on year-on-year basis, whichever suited him the most. On fiscal side, he tried to compare apples with oranges, that is, budget deficit with versus without circular debt payment. The author also indulged in speculative statements like "likely to take off" or "likely to come down". A muted rejoinder needs no more comments from my side.
(The writer is Dean, School of Social Sciences & Humanities, NUST, Islamabad)