Call to restructure economy on export-driven model

Experts weigh in on digitising economy, improving governance

ISLAMABAD:

Economic experts on Wednesday stressed the need to restructure the economy of Pakistan on an export-driven model rather than incentivising import to address the balance of payments challenges.

The experts made the remarks during a seminar “Building Consensus on Pakistan’s Economic Future” organised by Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI).

Speaking on the occasion, former Governor State Bank of Pakistan Dr Ishrat Hussain said during the entire 15 structural reforms Pakistan’s economy had seen through, it had been noted that there was complete consensus on reshaping the economy and driving it towards a growth-based economy.

The salient features spelt out during the seminar were that Pakistan needed a high growth rate; 1.5 million jobs are to be created to address the youth bulge in the market of whom 60 per cent are 15 years and above; need for investing in education and health and bringing around a robust social security net.

The experts noted that fiscal deficit was the root cause of all imbalances in the economy and could only be tackled by reducing expenditures and by increasing taxation.

A broad-based consensus was on revamping the civil services structures, which the panel believed was redundant, and out of utility.

Pakistan’s other woe was faulty energy policy, and industrial production was its biggest casualty. Pakistan’s oil bill was over $18b and that could be reduced to 50 per cent by opting for solar, but there was no recourse owing to inefficiency.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2023.