Evolving strategies and boosting productivity

One can notice a shift in the national debate on how to manage rising unsustainable foreign debt as more analysts call for restricting foreign loans for “projects with high development impact’ and directing investment in areas of ‘comparative advantage’. This is necessary to build on the macroeconomic stability achieved thus far. A former senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) Pakistani official says “The approach of accepting whatever comes in, on whatever terms, must end. Multilateral concessional financing should support demand-driven projects with high development impact.” Ideally, countries should concentrate on sectors in which they possess a clear comparative advantage and import goods produced more efficiently elsewhere, says Ehsan Malik, former CEO of the Pakistan Business Council.