Agriculture’s deep-rooted challenges

Thanks to the latest rollover of a $2 billion Chinese loan, there is apparently little to worry about the rupee’s health till the end of March 2024. But the rupee’s prospects in April-June 2024 may not remain as certain. Weak fundamentals of Pakistan’s external economy — particularly growing external debt servicing requirements amidst no big hope for a sustainable boost to foreign exchange reserves will surely keep the local currency under pressure. This will be happening under a weak coalition government at the Centre and equally weak governments in provinces — and amidst possibly high levels of political confrontation and chaos. So, steering the economy out of crisis will remain a big challenge for the elected federal and provincial governments even if our powerful establishment manages to broker short-term sanity in the newly elected federal and provincial parliaments.