New Delhi, Jan 14 (IANS) A lack of sustained growth has left real incomes falling which led to a ‘failing Pakistan’ despite signs of macroeconomic stabilisation and reform, a report said on Wednesday.
The Express Tribune said in a report citing Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) data that the improved headline indicators alongside deteriorating social outcomes suggest a stark contrast.
Real GDP growth averaged just 2.47 per cent across recent years barely in line with population growth of about 2.55 per cent, which means per‑capita output has effectively stagnated, the report said.
Growth rates swung from contraction in 2019–20 to a peak of 5.97 per cent in 2021–22, before slowing to the mid‑single digits in subsequent years.
While nominal household incomes nearly doubled since 2018, highest inflation in last 50 years has eroded purchasing power for most households.
“Income inequality is more pronounced in urban areas, where rich households earn above Rs 1,46,920 while the poorest remain below Rs 42,412. Since 2018-19, income increased by 119.25 per cent in the fifth (top earners) quintile, compared with 80.45 per cent in the first quintile, indicating faster gains for higher-income households,” the report said.
In the past decade, Pakistan again adopted a demand-side approach by leveraging Chinese investment and presenting it as a “game changer”, but the approach failed, the report said.
“Supply-side economics, by contrast, suggests that the key to higher levels of sustained economic growth lies in the reduction of tax rates, ease of doing business, reduced government spending, sound money, free trade and privatisation,” the report said.
By carving out a coherent supply-side economic policy, Pakistan can unlock productivity and wealth creation and prosperity without which it risks repeating cycles of short‑term stabilisation.
Another recent report said that Pakistan is underperforming economically because its education and skills systems fail to convert human potential into productivity.
Low public spending on education, outdated curricula, inadequate teacher training, limited vocational pathways and poor research funding have produced persistent skill shortages and high youth unemployment, it noted.
–IANS
aar/
