THE national economy over the decades has not been able to produce the desired results in terms of addressing the critical issues of poverty and unemployment in the country. Besides, successive governments have not been able to get the country out of the menace of years-old foreign borrowing/aid due to their lack of any clearly defined strategy.

The production of our agricultural and industrial sectors has also not been up to the mark due to various reasons and questionable strategies adopted by successive governments. Various taxation policies in the country have also remained a source of criticism from many a quarter.

There are questions the answers to which have varied from one political party to the other. These include the question of whether one should spend more funds on education and health or on defence, should we have a nationalised economy or a privatised economy, should there be direct taxation or indirect taxation, should we have agricultural economy or industrial economy, should we go for foreign loans or self-reliance, should we have more funds for human development or infrastructure development, should we focus on foreign direct investment or local investment, and, indeed, many more.

In other words, major political parties are not on one page regarding the structure and the shape of our economy. There is a greater need for all major political parties, including the one in power, to sit together with good intent and sincerity for presenting the best economic model and strategy to the nation, to steer the country out of the present economic crisis.

A charter of economy should be signed by all the major political parties. Within that charter, broader issues of economy should be presented in detail besides agreeing on the strategy on how to work on these issues for possible short-term and long-term stability and recovery of the economy.

This will give confidence to the ruling party, whereby it will face less criticism from the opposition, and will be able to run the economic affairs smoothly.

The need of the hour, therefore, is that all the affairs of our economy should be managed with consensus decisions by all the major political parties.

It will give stability to the economy and might as well give it a great boost.

Abdul Samad Samo
Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2022