WHEN the world was facing a global financial crisis in 2008, the then French President Nicolas Sarkozy formed a commission comprising Nobel Prize-winning economists Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen, and the distinguished French economist Jean Paul Fitoussi. Their task was to give a comprehensive analysis whether the gross domestic product — the most widely used measure of economic activity — is a reliable indicator of economic and social progress? What is its relevance with the economic sustainability of average citizens?

The economic team of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif always takes credit for the increased GDP, higher collection of tax revenues, containing deficit, expanding foreign reserves to an unprecedented level and controlling inflation.

The prosperity of certain segments of mega cities endorses the said claim to some extent but in reality a sizeable number of our citizens have no access to clean drinking water, affordable health, sanitation, primary and tertiary education, and employment opportunities.

The farming community, which is the backbone of the economy, is suffering owing to falling commodities prices vis-a-vis the rising input costs of their produce. There is an urgent need for forming a commission consisting of the country’s credible economists, and tasking them to assess whether our economy’s present development model is serving the needs of our society at large.

A rational analysis will throw light upon solutions for the well-being of our society and provide guidelines to refine fiscal and monetary policies. At a time when policymakers worldwide are grappling with unprecedented financial and environmental issues, there is an urgent need for us to set the directions of our economy through objective analysis to achieve the goal of a welfare society.

Zafar Iqbal

Lahore

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2016