Article Type

Article

Description

Problems in the short term that affect day-to-day life are quite naturally given centre stage by both policymakers and the government’s critics. How much fiscal deficit is real, how much contrived? What has gone into computing the rate of inflation? What is the composition of foreign exchange reserves in terms of borrowed money and own money? These are pertinent questions that need to be raised. The government of the day has to answer these questions and satisfy its critics. But this excessive preoccupation with short-term issues leads to the neglect of long-term issues that responsible governments must address. It is hard to predict where we would be in the next 10 to 20 years but evolving global trends do leave some pointers. Action will follow only if the gravity of the situation is realised. Benchmarking Pakistan of 2015 with other countries at the same level of development in the past and taking stock of the future determines that a few big deficits are critical for our future development.

Publication Source

Dawn

Publication Date

1-16-2016

Pages

1-3

Download

Included in

Economics Commons

Share

COinS