Govt shoulders some blame for economic woes

The government has conceded that lingering political instability, import controls and tight monetary policies caused the country’s prevailing economic downfall, taking the blame for the turmoil it has largely pinned on the usual suspects: the PTI and the floods. However, the coalition government expects that political stability would help put the country towards economic recovery and growth path. This is one of the key themes of the economic review of the current fiscal year to be rolled out on Thursday (today) as part of the Pakistan Economic Survey 2022-23 by the coalition governments’ economic team led by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. It will be followed by the budget announcement on Friday. The broad overview of the macroeconomic performance was shared with the National Economic Council (NEC) on Wednesday, along with targets for the next fiscal year. The government is forecasting the economic outlook for the next year as positive, with a growth target of 3.5pc.