What Pakistan can learn from China

Deep, structural economic reform is an important and continuous process. In the face of economic headwinds and geopolitical challenges, China understands that well. Pakistan doesn’t. It was not, therefore, surprising to see the recent Communist Party of China (CPC) conclave, or the third plenum, set out a blueprint for reforming the country’s economy last week. The adoption of a reform resolution is actually being seen as the “most important outcome” of this highly anticipated four-day meeting. There, Beijing announced a series of major measures: rebooting growth, tackling existing hurdles — from government debt to a housing slump to dwindling foreign investment — and building a high-standard socialist market economy by 2035. This implies that Beijing still sees decent economic growth as crucial in the next decade and aims to achieve socialist modernisation to create a fairer and more dynamic market environment.