Pakistan’s dead capital (Dawn)
FINANCE Minister Shaukat Tarin recently stated that putting the economy on a higher growth trajectory is the government’s top priority, and that plans are afoot to spend a substantial amount of resources on large infrastructure projects to achieve the target. Unfortunately, there is nothing new in this recipe, and as I argued in my last piece (Obsession with infrastructure’, April 30) in this paper, it might even end up creating more long-term liabilities. So are there any alternatives that can help propel the Pakistani economy to higher, sustained growth rates? Yes there are, something that the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) panel and team on growth strategy considered while coming up with ideas/strategies to accelerate the economy’s growth. It’s not the usual document that is centred upon a few trite ideas, but takes stock of issues ranging from civil service to the judiciary’s performance, and how they hamper growth. Amongst these ideas, there is a discussion on the concept of ‘dead capital’.
