Ever since the PTI assumed power, it made five key promises to the nation. The most prominent was the eradication of poverty. The prime minister has on numerous occasions cited China as a role model and hinted at adopting its strategies to alleviate poverty among the masses.
The second promise was universal education. The prime minister expressed concern that 25 million children were out of school and it was his priority to improve the state of education. The third promise was the provision of justice. The prime minister vowed that the rich and poor would be given equal opportunities and justice will be served at the doorsteps of the people. He promised to provide ten million jobs to the youth. His fifth and last promise was to provide affordable low-cost housing and build five million houses.
These five promises were part of the PTI’s manifesto, party leader’s speeches and are often repeated at political gatherings. Unfortunately, there is no coherent strategy or policy on how these goals will be achieved. According to official statistics, inflation has been rising steadily and five million people have been unemployed since 2018. The poverty rate has increased by four percent and the number of children who are out of school has risen to three million.
If we look at government initiatives, there has been no considerable progress on the project to provide five million housing. The pace at which the project is moving ahead suggests that hardly a few thousand houses will be built by the end of the government’s tenure. Institutional reforms have not been implemented, in fact even the bill has not even been prepared.
Regarding the achievements of the government, only the current account deficit has been turned into a surplus. The government should be given credit but merely improving the fiscal deficit does not indicate that the economy is heading in the right direction. This requires economic production, increasing exports, generating employment and reducing the prices of essential commodities.
Political leaders cannot seem to reason that improving the current account deficit will not lead to economic development.
Pakistan’s economy is not heading in the direction for several years. We need to clearly identify our targets, set goals and develop effective strategies. The incumbent government has no policy to achieve its goals and is often seen changing its perspectives on key issues. At the start of his tenure, the prime minister called on setting up small businesses such as poultry, eggs, and dairy but no effort has been passed despite the passage of two years.
The government has vowed to develop industries without any industrial policy. It aims to meet agricultural targets but has not unveiled any agricultural policy. It wants to increase seafood exports to a billion dollars but does not have any strategy.
The government needs to set its economic priorities straight and develop effective policies. We can only reach our goals when we have a strategy on how to achieve them. We may not completely achieve these goals but the people will realise that the government is taking the matter seriously and will end the economic crisis.
