Amid ongoing economic and political uncertainty, Pakistan finds itself at a crossroads—struggling to navigate its 25th IMF program while confronting deep-rooted structural challenges.
While IMF programs provide short-term stabilization, they fail to address the real cause of Pakistan’s deepening insolvency—our lack of productivity and innovation to drive export-led growth. Instead of making the economy more competitive, these programs lead to policies that further erode our global competitiveness, leaving Pakistan more dependent on external support rather than fostering self-sustaining growth.
I had the privilege of discussing these critical issues with Dr. Nadeem ul Haq in an engaging session hosted by SIA. Our conversation took a deep dive into Pakistan’s economic future, governance failures, and the urgent reforms needed to break this cycle.
🔎 Key Questions We Explored:
📌 IMF Bailouts: A Fix or more of the same? Are we working toward sustainable fiscal stability or just postponing an inevitable crisis?
📌 Privatization & SOE Reforms: Can privatization materialise, or will misgovernance persist?
📌 Policy Predictability & Governance: How does inconsistent policymaking erode investor confidence and hinder economic growth?
📌 Public Finance & Budgeting: Why does Pakistan still rely on outdated cash-based accounting instead of internationally accepted accrual-based financial reporting?
📌 Energy Challenges: To address deep-rooted issues in policies, governance, operations, and ineffective regulation, should global experts be brought in for reforms?
📌 Civil Servants in SOEs & Universities: Should we rethink the concept of ex-officio directors? How do we ensure that those charged with governance have skin in the game to improve decision-making & governance?
📌 The Productivity & Competitiveness Crisis: Why is Pakistan falling behind in global competitiveness? What policies are needed to drive innovation, industrial efficiency, and export-led growth?
This discussion isn’t just about identifying problems—it’s about proposing solutions. If Pakistan is to achieve sustainable economic growth, we must rethink governance, adopt sound public financial management principles, and foster an environment where the private sector can drive progress through productivity and innovation.
💬 What’s your take? Should Pakistan continue relying on the IMF, or is it time to implement structural reforms that drive real economic competitiveness?
