Fortifying export productivity

Notwithstanding improving stability and geopolitical relations, analysts say policymakers are struggling to address declining productivity across key industrial sectors. Pakistan is among the world’s top-performing stock markets, but manufacturing output, unemployment and poverty have either deteriorated or remained stubbornly high, explained Dr Manzoor Ahmed in his The Express Tribune article in July titled ‘Profits without productivity and job creation’. Over two-thirds of recent stock market gains have come from the banking, fertiliser, and oil and gas sectors, he said, adding: a closer look reveals how government policies have driven their profits, often at the cost of broader private sector development.