Grasping for the way forward

When tracing Pakistan’s progress, a predominantly agricultural country, we see that it transformed into a semi-industrialised economy, which then ushered in import-oriented and debt-driven growth with an increasingly vulnerable external sector. Stressing the need to accelerate export-led growth, Finance Minister Muhammed Aurangzeb said that import-led subsidised businesses were no longer sustainable. While the need to boost exports cannot be overemphasised, the challenges in this endeavour are enormous. These include low domestic productivity, high cost of doing business, shrinking space for free trade restricted by surging worldwide protectionism, and international trade/economic sanctions.