An outcome of having an open environment for discourses
has been that scores of policy documents have been produced over the
past many years. However, one can observe a general fatigue from
dialogues. The quantum (of policy papers) has been such that the
country's issues no longer seem to require any 'expertise' as everyone
seems to have an expert opinion. Solutions have become more obvious, and
yet the country seems to be continually getting pulled deeper into more
problems.
Despite so many and elaborate papers, the lapse is clearly in
governance. Lack of implementation, even to a small extent, has now led
to any new discourse being treated as information overkill.
As the government settles down, it should revisit some of the lost
discourses instead of constituting new bodies/committees to devise
further strategies. An important and influential document has been the
Framework of Economic Growth (FEG), framed by the Planning Commission of
Pakistan in 2011. FEG is an all-round paper that, unlike many other
documents, not only recommends policy options but also proposes a strong
mechanism to implement them.
FEG primarily focuses on what it calls the "software" of economic
growth, calling to attention the need for institutionalisation of the
reform process. The enhancement of the "software", which comprises
issues concerning economic governance, reformation of institutions,
incentives, human resource development etc., will bring about
significant and positive changes in productivity and efficiency, thereby
leading to increase in the "hardware" of growth i.e. physical
infrastructure.
The document does highlight the need for economic growth, but does
not just stop there. It specifically establishes further need to improve
governance mechanisms, while strongly propagating opening up markets so
as to generate entrepreneurship and business opportunities. It also
calls for maintaining competitive markets that allow increased
commercial activity, enhanced connectivity, and proactive youth and
community engagement. But that is just talk. The document, however, goes
further to also propose 'results-based management' and action matrices
for implementation of propositions.
Looking at the proposals in FEG, there is little that has been
observed in practice since its launch in 2011, while there seems to be a
recurrence in policy debates of similar themes, extensively and
collectively covered in the document. Although in their entirety
deliberations of FEG may be debatable, but one cannot deny their
importance and the pressing need for implementation.
From what was proposed in the FEG 2011, quite the opposite has
happened due to lack of implementation by the new government (so far) or
the old one under whose tutelage the documents was drafted. Energy
crises deepened, due to gross misgovernance in the regulation of the
sector. Cities, envisioned as hubs of commercial activities and engines
of growth, have turned into entire conflict zones.
In a news item reported in The News on the April 24, 2012, eight
public-sector enterprises had sucked up to Rs1.5 trillion in a short
span of 48 months. Fiscal year 2012-13 again saw state-owned enterprises
borrowing a massive sum of Rs32 billion. With regards to competitive
markets, one can observe the inadequacy of the regulatory body
responsible for maintaining market competition and how it is dependent
on the state for its funding, thereby losing its own autonomy.
Furthermore, unemployment continues to haunt Pakistan's youth, not to
mention how education is persistently affected by power outages,
conflicts and riots in many cities across the country – a long-term
anchor for growth.
Given that the current government seems to have a growth-led economic
agenda, the FEG provides an entry-point for much-needed governance
reform. Moreover, FEG also stresses that policies ought to be
environment-friendly, before the word 'growth' raises any eyebrows. More
importantly, there is always room for debate and dialogue. As stated
earlier, the deliberations of FEG may be debatable. But the fact that it
provides an all-inclusive trajectory for economic growth by approaching
reform as a continued process, while also providing an implementation
mechanism, makes it a noteworthy document.
It is an utter shame and pity for the FEG to have been ignored in
active policymaking earlier, even if used for argument’s sake. One would
expect that the current government takes up this document much more
seriously than the previous one did, particularly when the incumbent
government, now in its third month in power, has already started
attracting criticisms on implementation of the promises made to come
into power.
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