Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan presented its three-year performance report, reviewing its achievements in realms of governance, economy and foreign policy. The 251-page report gives an outline of the achievements of 44 public bodies including ministries, divisions and departments, through infographics and relevant facts and figures.
It may be unfair to judge a government at the three-year mark of its five-year mandate, but it does provide an opportunity to look at some recurring patterns and trends that have marked the performance of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s administration.
During the ceremony, the Prime Minister claimed that the government stabilized economy after inheriting the worst economic mess whereby trade deficit was $38bn and current account deficit $20bn in 2017-18, the last year of PML-N government. According to the premier, all economic indicators were showing upward trends. It met Indian threat after Pulvama incident with courage and managed the COVID threat by successfully balancing lives and livelihoods.
However, on the domestic front, some weaknesses are still visible. Lack of consistency in policy leading to inflation and a politically drenched approach to accountability that has dented the credibility of the process.
The government did indeed inherit a very broken down economy, and its initial indecision made it much worse, but it did get control over the whole thing and the overall direction was fine. It’s handling of the pandemic has been showing very nice results. The way it helped businesses survive the worst of the lockdown kept the earning situation from being much worse and the Ehsaas programme that has strengthened the social safety network.
While there have been some notable achievements the government needs to do a lot more work if it is to succeed in providing some measure of feel-good factor to the public at large.
