KARACHI: In the run-up to general elections, any politician worth his/her salt loves to do a lot of talking. When it comes to leaders of political parties, the desire to hog the limelight is even more intense. And, when these leaders happen to be leading major mainstream entities, the desire almost borders on desperation.

In approaching Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Mian Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan for their response on key economic issues, Dawn thought it would be a cakewalk as the three gentlemen would love to get a slot on a platter. To his credit, only the PTI chief came up to the expectation.

The responses by the two other leaders were prepared by their aides, but it took a lot of time for the two to accord them their approval. In fact, the younger Zardari never sent in his consent. It was not known if he even got to read the draft that was prepared on his behalf. The PPP chief surely has better things to do these days than to answer a simple questionnaire. Taj Haider, the old horse, had to finally fill in for his rather young boss.

As for Mr Sharif, he was apparently too busy formulating his ‘broader political vision’ to spend time dealing with simple things which he thought should be dealt with by the lesser mortals. There were a few other ‘desires’ conveyed on his behalf, but they shall better remain unsaid.

The manner in which the three parties responded to the questionnaire, it is only logical to start off with the PTI. Here goes Mr Khan.

The immediate challenge, he said, would be to avert the looming balance-of-payment crisis. Lying at the heart of the problem is the unsustainable energy policy with rising dependence on oil imports. Corrective measures – alternative sources, dams etc. – will result in annual savings of $4bn in the import bill, he said.

Restoring investor’s confidence through structural and governance reforms is another target alongside the creation of employment opportunities by exploiting Regional Trade Corridors to optimise Pakistan’s geo-strategic proximity to the fastest growing economies in the world, including China, India, Central Asian states that have a combined GDP of $11 trillion.

With a targeted annual growth rate of six per cent and the reduction of fiscal deficit down to 4.5 per cent, the PTI hopes to achieve better sovereign debt ratings and create space for banks to fund private-sector projects.

“PTI is working on detailed papers for launching non-resident bonds to attract investment from overseas Pakistanis … (and) are also developing a blueprint for making Pakistan the world leader in Global Islamic Finance, a $1.3 trillion market today that can be tapped for funding investment in key infrastructure projects,” said Mr Khan.

On the social side, PTI plans to spend three times more on the health sector than what is being spent today, he concluded.

On his part, Mr Sharif took more or less the same approach, but used bombastic words in doing so. “Strong economy; strong Pakistan”, he said, was his vision. He continued: “No country in the world has been able to safeguard its progress, stability and sovereignty without a strong economy.

In fact, an essential prerequisite for resolving the problems of poverty, unemployment, inflation and social instability is rapid and sustained revival of the economy.”

He talked of the “urgent need to revive the confidence of domestic and foreign investors”, but added that despite the difficult security situation, “there are vast opportunities for new investments in energy, agriculture, livestock, oil and gas, minerals, low-cost housing, and selected infrastructure projects”.

Among other things, the PML-N will cut down administrative expenditure, increase tax collection, create employment opportunities especially in the IT and SME sectors, resolve energy crisis, focus on fiscal consolidation “We will make serious efforts to convert at least 50 per cent of the $14bn being remitted by overseas Pakistanis every year into gainful investments in manufacturing and other sectors by offering special financial products and stock options to Pakistan Diaspora, said Mr Sharif.

On the social side, the PML-N promises to make “the right to food” a fundamental constitutional right, and to have the minimum wage gradually increased to Rs15,000 per month by 2018.

The PML-N manifesto has made 32 promises in all which will “gradually include Pakistan among the top 10 economies of the developing world”, claimed Mr Sharif.

Filling in for the junior Zardari, PPP’s Taj Haider started off with a list of what the outgoing coalition government had achieved in terms of economic progress. He also hinted at the continuation of previous policies, if voted to power again.

Talking about the looming balance-of-payment crisis, he said stability in foreign trade is basically a question of producing exportable surplus, finding markets, cutting down and substituting imports, foreign remittances and a resilient economy.

“With the strengthening of the agriculture sector because of our wise policies, we are producing a very high exportable surplus. Under the People’s Agriculture Programme (PAP), clusters of small farmers, cooperatives for livestock and horticulture, modernisation of fisheries sector will be carried out and we expect these sectors to grow at a minimum of five per cent per year which is more than double the rate at which the national demand is growing, leaving us with a reasonable surplus for exports,” said Mr Haider.

Inflation, he said, had been brought down to eight per cent from 25 per cent which will cut down the cost of production and make local products more competitive globally.

Reliance on indigenous coal, development of gas reserves, rationalisation of fuel pricing and, indeed, the Pak-Iran gas pipeline will together pay dividends soon, he said, assuring the nation that “our dependence on IMF has ended”. He brought the curtain down with a thundering promise: “In our next tenure, we shall further consolidate and expand these successful policies.”