A steep price

PAKISTAN’S economy faces a severe multidimensional crisis amid a gloomy and uncertain outlook. A recent State Bank report on the state of the economy during the first half of the present fiscal year admits that macroeconomic fundamentals are deteriorating, but it understates the severity of the painful crisis the country and its people have been contending with for the last one year — just as Finance Minister Ishaq Dar does when he contends the country is not on the verge of a financial crisis and will “absolutely not” default. To prove his point, he has pointed to the current account surplus of $570m and $18m recorded in March and April, respectively. But he did not say that the government achieved this surplus at the cost of GDP growth, which is forecast to stay flat this fiscal year amid widespread industrial closures and productivity cuts, and tens of thousands of lost jobs. At least the State Bank has been more forthcoming than Mr Dar. The latter’s mismanagement of the economy over the last eight months proves that he is part of the problem. No wonder, Princeton economist Atif Mian has tweeted: “To thump your chest and say, ‘see we have not defaulted’ means nothing if you continue to ignore the underlying crisis.”